PRISONERS 
 RUSSIA 
 
 N J AM IN HOWARD 
 
^0 
 
 yryr^ 
 
 \ 
 
 REESE LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 Class 
 
 
Dr. Benjamin Howard. 
 
PRISONERS OF 
 RUSSIA 
 
 A PERSONAL STUDY OF CONVICT LIFE 
 IN SAKHALIN AND SIBERIA 
 
 BY 
 
 BENJAMIN HOWARD, M. A., M. D., F. R. C. 8. E. 
 
 WITH A PREFACE BY 
 
 Brigadier-General O. O. HOWARD, U. S. A. (Retired) 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 or THE ''"\ 
 
 UNIVE^ ^ 
 
 NEW YORK 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 
 
 190Z 
 

 REESE 
 
 Copyright, 1902 
 By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 
 
 Published May, 1902 
 
PREFACE 
 
 Dr. Benjamin Douglas Howard, who in 
 this volume chronicles the results of a series of 
 special and valuable studies of Siberian prison 
 life, especially in the far-distant and almost un-* 
 known island prison of Sakhalin, was born at 
 Chesham, Bucks, England, March 21, 1836, 
 His father, Thomas Howard, was a manufac- 
 turer of woodenware, one of the staple trades 
 of Chesham, an honourable man, and a Baptist 
 of the straightest Calvinistic school, being a 
 member of the Church of Townfield, Chesham. 
 Thomas had five children Mary, Samuel, Caro- 
 line, Benjamin, and Ephraim. His wife dying 
 while the children were young, the father 
 brought them up with a strictness bordering 
 on severity. At his death, Benjamin and the 
 younger brother Ephraim were cared for by 
 their guardians, Mr. S. Stone and Mrs. Birch, 
 of Blucher Street, Chesham, at whose house 
 Benjamin lived. He attended the school of Mr. 
 J. Boulden, where he evinced ability far beyond 
 that of the other boys, his crayon sketches and 
 
 1 44i6 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 paintings notably attracting attention by their 
 excellence. 
 
 After he left school, his guardian wished to 
 apprentice him to some kind of work that was 
 very distasteful, so he left Chesham to carve out 
 a different career for himself. For a time he 
 worked at the trade of painter and paper-hanger 
 in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, but even 
 then he was anxious to enter a university, for his 
 first teaching in the Chesham school had only 
 fitted him for commercial life. Not communi- 
 cating this wish to those who would have will- 
 ingly aided him to obtain a university scholar- 
 ship, which he could have easily won, he, 
 hearing about the year 1853 that the American 
 colleges were accessible to such as he, embarked 
 for New York. 
 
 After his arrival in America he worked at his 
 trade in several cities for a livelihood, and 
 with indomitable perseverance attended college 
 classes. He was so determined to accomphsh 
 his object, which at that time was to become a 
 medical missionary, that frequently, after a hard 
 day's work, he sat up till sunrise, being at his 
 desk until so overpowered by sleep that he 
 would fasten his eyelids to his brow with muci- 
 lage paper. 
 
 Benjamin Howard had made up his mind to 
 obtain a first-class education, and he seldom 
 
 vi 
 
Preface 
 
 failed to accomplish the object on which he had 
 set his heart. His classmate, Joseph D. Bartley, 
 M. A., writes this of him in those days: " He be- 
 came a member of the class entering WilHams 
 College 1855, at about the middle of its course. 
 Some of its well-known members are now 
 known as Rev. Washington Gladden, D. D., of 
 Columbus, Ohio; Prof. E. B. Parsons, Secretary 
 of the Williams Faculty; Rev. H. A. Schauffler, 
 D. D., Cleveland, Ohio; Hon. S. G. W. Benja- 
 min, formerly U. S. Minister to Persia. Presi- 
 dent Mark Hopkins, that prince of teachers, 
 was in charge, and something of his manliness 
 and gentle Christian character was impressed 
 upon all who came under his beneficent in- 
 fluence. 
 
 " Dr. Howard, though of about the average 
 age of his classmates, gave the impression of 
 greater age and maturity. There was a cer- 
 tain quiet, dignity, modesty, self-possession, and 
 moral earnestness that at once won our respect. 
 He was an earnest student, and even then had 
 such medical skill as to lead us to call in his serv- 
 ices when needed. The writer well remembers 
 the skilful treatment he received from Dr. How- 
 ard for a seriously sprained wrist, caused by a 
 fall upon the ice. At Williams he gave full 
 promise of the eminence he attained in later 
 life." 
 
 vii 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 Being for some reason unable to continue 
 at Williams for graduation, young Howard re- 
 turned to New York, took up the study of med- 
 icine, and was graduated at the College of Phy- 
 sicians and Surgeons in 1858, receiving the 
 degree of Doctor of Medicine. It was at this 
 time that he made professional visits to houses 
 that he had painted or papered when, a few years 
 before, he was struggling for an education and 
 working at his trade. In 1869 Williams College 
 conferred upon him, in recognition of his schol- 
 arship and valuable medical services, the honor- 
 ary degree of Master of Arts. Dr. Howard, in 
 his will, left a legacy of one thousand dollars to 
 Williams College to aid poor students. 
 
 His cherished desire to become a medical 
 missionary sent him to Auburn (N. Y.) Theo- 
 logical-Seminary for a time, but at last indiffer- 
 ent health caused him, with much reluctance, 
 to abandon this project. 
 
 He naturally was much interested in our 
 slavery discussions at this period, and was read- 
 ing the publications of the day. Having been 
 greatly impressed with Uncle Tom's Cabin, he 
 determined to investigate for himself the prac- 
 tical workings of human slavery. For this pur- 
 pose he went to St. Louis, Mo., and obtained 
 employment as a clerk in a slave market. What 
 he saw, including the customary paid admissions 
 viii 
 
Preface 
 
 of young men about town to the quarters of the 
 female slaves who were awaiting sale, so aroused 
 his indignation and sympathy that he at once be- 
 came an active agent of the " underground rail- 
 way " to Canada. He did this while still a clerk 
 at his desk in the slave market. Soon this dou- 
 ble occupation was discovered. Then, being 
 warned by a companion, he fled from Missouri, 
 barely escaping with his life. 
 
 The war for the Union breaking out soon 
 after the completion of his medical studies, Dr. 
 Howard immediately volunteered his services to 
 the Government as a surgeon, and was enrolled 
 May 20, 1 86 1, and mustered into service May 
 22d as assistant surgeon in the Nineteenth 
 Regiment of New York Volunteers, afterward 
 known as the Third New York Light Artillery. 
 He was to have served two years, but meantime, 
 having passed the very difficult examination, he 
 was appointed, on August 28th of the same year, 
 assistant surgeon in the regular army, and soon 
 after attached to the staff of Major-General Mc- 
 Clellan, commanding the Army of the Potomac. 
 
 Acting as an aide-de-camp, he visited my di- 
 vision during the battle of Antietam. In this, 
 and in all the battles where he was present, Dr. 
 Howard served faithfully and with gallantry. 
 On one occasion, having captured a Confederate 
 spy, he was able to convey to the commanding 
 
 ix 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 general such information as to aid materially in 
 a victory for the Union forces. 
 
 He was at one time medical purveyor and 
 acting medical director of the Department of the 
 Ohio. It was while acting as senior operator to 
 the regular troops in the Army of the Potomac, 
 and while away from headquarters, that, after 
 one of the severe engagements, he was captured 
 by a strolling party of Confederates. Stripped 
 by them of all his valuables, and even of his hat, 
 he was made to march most of one day in the 
 hot sun before he was released. This hardship 
 brought on a partial sunstroke and nervous de- 
 bility from which he never fully recovered, and 
 it is wonderfully to his credit that he accom- 
 plished so much in the line of his profession as 
 he did, with lasting benefits to humanity, in his 
 greatly impaired condition. In spite of his 
 physical troubles, he continued his military du- 
 ties until the final investment of Petersburg, 
 when he resigned and left the army, December 
 28, 1864. 
 
 Because of his large experience gained in the 
 army during the civil war. Dr. Howard decided 
 at first to practise medicine in New York city, 
 making a specialty of surgery. In a very short 
 time he obtained a large practice, being on every 
 hand greatly respected and sought after. He 
 was an indefatigable worker in practice and in 
 
 X 
 
Preface 
 
 pursuing his medical studies, making short trips 
 to Europe for that purpose. It was at this time 
 that the attention of the medical world at large 
 was called to this modest and able practitioner, 
 particularly through the appearance, in 1871, of 
 a prize essay written by him for the American 
 Medical Association, entitled The Direct Meth- 
 od of Artificial Respiration, or the Treatment of 
 Persons apparently Dead from Suffocation by 
 Drowning or from other Cause. This simplifi- 
 cation of Marshall Hall's method for resuscitat- 
 ing persons seemingly drowned was the greatest 
 service done for humanity by Dr. Howard. His 
 method was immediately adopted in hand-books 
 which were published by the general Govern- 
 ment and by municipalities throughout the 
 United States. Now every policeman is in- 
 debted to Dr. Howard for the simple instruc- 
 tions which have enabled him to aid the appar- 
 ently drowned. An example of these simplifi- 
 cations was that Dr. Howard was the first to call 
 attention to the fact that in nearly all cases per- 
 sons are drowned with their clothes on, and that 
 in attempts at resuscitation this clothing can be 
 used in a bundle over which to lay the patient. 
 
 At this period of his life Dr. Howard was 
 Lecturer on Operative Surgery in the Medical 
 Department of the University of New York; 
 Professor of Surgery and Surgeon in the Long 
 
 xi 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 Island College Hospital; Professor of Surgery 
 elect in the Medical College at Cincinnati; and 
 from 1872 to 1873 Professor of Obstetrics, and 
 1873-^75 Professor of Surgery, in the University 
 of Vermont. He was also a Fellow of the New 
 York Academy of Medicine. He rendered as- 
 sistance to his profession by his many writings 
 on medical subjects, a few of which were on the 
 antiseptic treatment of gunshot wounds of the 
 chest by hermetically sealing; a new method of 
 treating hip-joint disease; removal of several 
 bullets from deep substance of the brain; on an 
 army ambulance wagon with interior springs, 
 awarded first prize and medal at the Paris Inter- 
 national Exposition; a prize essay on Treatment 
 of Aneurism and the Ligature of Arteries; a 
 prize essay on a ready method of artificial respi- 
 ration; and on apparatus for demonstrating the 
 anatomy and treatment of hernia. 
 
 In 1875 Dr. Howard left New York to re- 
 cruit, if possible, his health by a prolonged stay 
 in Europe, Asia, and Africa. At first he spent 
 two or three years in leisure work in Vienna and 
 Paris. In France he was able to obtain an inter- 
 view with the Emperor, and to suggest the use 
 of his ambulance, which has been of acknowl- 
 edged service in the French army. This ambu- 
 lance invented by Dr. Howard was of lower con- 
 struction than those then in use, having interior 
 xii 
 
Preface 
 
 springs under the litter, which was easily taken 
 in and out, and thus transferred a patient with 
 greater comfort. Dr. Howard also called the 
 attention of the Paris authorities to the necessity 
 of a street ambulance service for that city. Soon 
 after this such service was instituted, founded on 
 the practice in American cities. 
 
 Returning to England, Dr. Howard was for 
 a time induced to take up his residence in Lon- 
 don, but, as a close friend has remarked, his 
 career was more meteor-like than planetary, and, 
 though he did stay a few years in London, he 
 nevertheless spent most of his time in travel and 
 research. While there he became a member of 
 several clubs like the Savoy and St. George's in 
 Hanover Square, and was well acquainted with 
 the medical profession generally. Being un- 
 married, he made his home in London at the 
 Langham Hotel, Charing Cross, preferring to be 
 at Hberty to go and come as he pleased. 
 
 Desiring an English degree as well as those 
 of America, he read up while at the Langham 
 Hotel, passed the examinations in 1888, and was 
 awarded the degree of Fellow of the Royal Col- 
 lege of Surgeons, Edinburgh (F. R. C. S. E.). 
 While in London he read a paper on anatomical 
 discoveries made by him in connection with the 
 epiglottis, which was published in the transac- 
 tions of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical So- 
 xiii 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 ciety of London. About this time he became 
 a close friend of Sir William McKenzie, the emi- 
 nent throat specialist, and was made also a Fel- 
 low of his society. 
 
 London having no ambulance service for its 
 hospitals other than that provided by the Order 
 of St. John for hire, Dr. Howard was so im- 
 pressed with this necessity that he agitated the 
 subject for several months, inventing a horse 
 ambulance especially for London street work. 
 Mentioning this one day to a fellow-passenger 
 in a train, he found him to be Mr. Grossman, 
 vice-chairman of a committee of London hos- 
 pitals, who entered into his plans most thor- 
 oughly, and presented one of Dr. Howard's am- 
 bulances to this committee. This was the first 
 ambulance used from a London hospital to pick 
 up accident cases from the streets. 
 
 Finally, on February 2, 1882, a meeting was 
 held, presided over by His Royal Highness the 
 Duke of Cambridge, to consider the advisability 
 of an accident-ambulance service for London. 
 A resolution to that effect was passed which 
 was earnestly supported by Dr. Howard, and a 
 committee formed to further the organization. 
 
 From this beginning the ambulance service 
 
 was soon started, with a partial acceptance of 
 
 Dr. Howard's carriage. The present splendid 
 
 service in London is the result. So that Dr. 
 
 xiv 
 
Preface 
 
 Howard has received the credit of being the 
 originator, and largely the organizer, of the 
 London Ambulance Service. This is an inci- 
 dent of this philanthropist's desire, he being a 
 keen observer of all surroundings, to suggest 
 means for the amelioration of suffering. It is 
 said that this was the first horse ambulance serv- 
 ice used in civil life in any part of Europe. 
 
 During this period Dr. Howard was engaged 
 as one of the authors of Quain's Dictionary of 
 Medicine. Also, by invitation, he lectured at 
 Guy's Hospital, in St. Bartholomew's, and in 
 St. Thomas's, connected with the medical col- 
 leges of London, as well as at the hospitals of 
 La Pitie and the Salpetriere of Paris. Dr. How- 
 ard did not practise regularly in London, but 
 received patients by appointment, while for a 
 season he was the medical examiner for appli- 
 cants to the Royal Friendly Society. 
 
 Dr. Howard says in his writings that since 
 1859 he had become interested in the different 
 convict systems in the world, the study of crim- 
 inology and prison reform. And so, beginning 
 with 1888, he began to travel considerably for 
 the purpose of making thorough investigations 
 of these subjects. He went through the prin- 
 cipal prisons of England, Germany, and the 
 United States, and through every convict prison 
 between St. Petersburg and Siberia; in Russia 
 
 XV 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 he travelled many hundred miles in hourly con- 
 tact with over five hundred exiles by road, river, 
 and rail. He made practical studies of the Ar- 
 menians' troubles in their midst. He went again 
 and again into the Russian Jew question, and 
 was twice put under arrest, utterly uncertain as 
 to what might await him. 
 
 In 1 89 1 the London Lancet published an ar- 
 ticle from his pen One Hundred Lashes with 
 the Knout which caused a sensation and was 
 copiously copied into the principal provincial 
 papers. 
 
 Notwithstanding the acknowledged severity 
 of this punishment, which the Doctor discovered 
 was given only in the most extreme cases, gener- 
 ally those of repeated murder, he was thoroughly 
 impressed with the fairness of the Russian prison 
 system, and he gives in this book a description 
 of this flogging, with his conclusions regarding 
 the Russian as compared with our own ruinous, 
 solitary-confinement method of treating crimi- 
 nals. This book reveals that phase of the life of 
 Dr. Howard, and the reader will find it interest- 
 ing as an addition to the study of criminology. 
 He had marvellous insight into character, and 
 his good humour and adroitness, combined with 
 self-assertion, enabled him to pass into social 
 positions and official connections where others 
 would have been repulsed. His able and inter- 
 xvi 
 
Preface 
 
 esting book following this sketch is a revelation 
 of this success. 
 
 On July 19, 1890, he wrote from Korea: 
 " I have spent a month in Italy, over three 
 months in India, travelling over three thousand 
 miles there, striking Mongolians, then to Ceylon 
 and China, thence the whole length of Japan, 
 living as the natives in the far interior. Am now 
 in this strange region of Korea, leaving to-mor- 
 row for Siberia, and expecting to reach the ex- 
 treme northeast, whence perhaps Kamchatka. 
 My first Russian port will be Vladivostok, after 
 that I may have some exceptional experiences." 
 Which proved true enough, as the reader will 
 find. 
 
 It was at this time that Dr. Howard, known 
 to be a scientist and not belonging to any or- 
 ganization for the propagation of Christianity, 
 was requested to deliver a lecture before mem- 
 bers of the Imperial Institute in Tokio, Japan, 
 on the subject of The Christ judged by Scientific 
 Method. 
 
 From the larger audience a small number of 
 Japanese students requested further information, 
 so that Dr. Howard took them to an inner room 
 of the university, and it has since transpired that 
 many, then hearing of Christ for the first time, 
 were convinced and made public confession of 
 their belief in him. 
 
 a xvii 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 Being at Vladivostok a little later, he met 
 the governor of the island of Sakhalin, who in- 
 vited him to make a visit to his prison home. 
 Dr. Howard joyfully grasped this opportunity, 
 for which he had long waited, and has given it 
 all in the following pages, except his unique 
 visit and life for two weeks among the strange 
 natives of that island, which he published in a 
 separate volume entitled Life Among the Trans- 
 Siberian Savages. 
 
 After all these experiences, which have fallen 
 to the lot of few men, and after recovering from 
 the accident of a terrible shipwreck in Japan, 
 he returned to England in 1896, and wrote to 
 a friend: " Now I am finished and never mean 
 to run any risks again." He soon after came 
 to America and took apartments in New York, 
 which he had always enjoyed because of the 
 many friends of earlier days. There I met him 
 again in 1898. Never, as we have seen, of robust 
 health, the active life had begun to wear more 
 and more upon him; his suffering from neuras- 
 thenia was hard to bear. Unknown to his inti- 
 mates, he was weakened by an affection of the 
 liver, which became acute in the spring of 1900, 
 and of which he died, June 27th, at the summer 
 home of his friend, the eminent Dr. Andrew H. 
 Smith, who had removed him to Elberon, N. J., 
 from the Presbyterian Hospital shortly before 
 xviii 
 
Preface 
 
 his death. He was laid to rest, at his own re- 
 quest, in the quiet cemetery there. 
 
 Dr. Howard and I could not trace our rela- 
 tionship, yet he was often taken for me, and 
 sometimes by those who knew one or the other 
 of us quite well. I shall be glad to be like him 
 patient, submissive, cheerful, and Christian 
 when my last days draw near as his were doing 
 when I visited him a few times just before his 
 departure. His faith and trust in the Master he 
 had so very diligently followed were simple and 
 complete. Who ever through his entire career 
 showed a stronger love for the Lord his God and 
 for his fellow-men? 
 
 O. O. Howard, 
 
 Major-Generaly U. S. A. 
 
 XIX 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Thanks to some excellent books on Siberian 
 travel, the topography of continental Siberia is 
 now so well known that anything further on 
 that topic might be regarded as superfluous. 
 Respecting the Russian penal exile system, how- 
 ever, there is still no little ignorance and confu- 
 sion, and not without reason. 
 
 The traveller with no previous acquaintance 
 with the language, whose projected visits are 
 telegraphed before he starts to the governor of 
 every prison to whom he is accredited on his in- 
 tended route, labours unavoidably under many 
 disadvantages. The toil of completing his haras- 
 sing journey within perhaps a very limited time 
 is in itself an exhausting occupation. The half- 
 hour exhibitions prepared for him at each of 
 these prisons, scattered hundreds of miles apart, 
 may have been duly made; the stories of certain 
 exiles and prisoners as retailed by an interpreter 
 may have been duly incorporated with his really 
 authentic experiences for future use, but the 
 daily routine of the ordinary actual life of prison- 
 xxi 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 ers and exiles, in prison and out of prison, when 
 no traveller is near; the ordinary methods and 
 life of the officials; the actual working of the 
 system in its different details and departments 
 these may be as unknown to this traveller at the 
 end of his trip as when he started. Of these 
 things seen from the inside, the English-speak- 
 ing public is still practically ignorant. 
 
 In illustration of one of these points, I may 
 perhaps venture to remark that it was the special 
 mission of Mr. Kennan to investigate in par- 
 ticular the alleged cruelties incident to the ex- 
 ile system. Yet, notwithstanding the thrilling 
 accounts his rare art and enterprise have fur- 
 nished, my repeated searches throughout his 
 book for a case I might quote in which he him- 
 self witnessed a flogging, or any act of per- 
 sonal violence by an official, have, to my great 
 surprise, remained fruitless: I have not been 
 able to find a single instance. Few people, how- 
 ever, doubt but that such incidents frequently 
 occur just where Mr. Kennan was, though he 
 did not see them. 
 
 Of my four series of visits to Russian and 
 Siberian prisons made between 1887 and 1897, 
 I purpose to say practically nothing in this book. 
 My Life with Trans-Siberian Savages was the 
 first work on that country by any foreigner who 
 had visited it, and treated of the animus there. 
 xxii 
 
Introduction 
 
 The present book is confined to the exile life 
 there from an inside point of view, as known 
 only by officials. 
 
 The nature of the special experience here 
 related is less a matter of merit than of accident. 
 In no other way could it have possibly come 
 about, as the slightest betrayal of design, or 
 eagerness on my part, to see what I have de- 
 scribed would at the start have defeated any 
 such purpose. This experience consisted of an 
 actual residence in a penal exile settlement, dur- 
 ing which I was the companion of the governor 
 in all his inspection tours far and near. 
 
 From the inside or official standpoint I saw 
 everything the governor saw. While each offi- 
 cial was supposed to see only what occurred in 
 his own department, I became familiar with 
 all the departments alike in their innermost 
 working. This applies not only to the postal 
 inspections, the Court of Justice, and the Po- 
 lice Department, but even to the special punish- 
 ments about which the secrecy observed is 
 greater than about any other penal event what- 
 ever. At each of the floggings which occurred 
 during my residence on Sakhalin, the culprits 
 were examined by me personally before, during, 
 and after the execution of the sentence. 
 
 The exiles themselves, I think, regarded me 
 as their friend, and thus I came to know many 
 xxiii 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 things from their point of view, which were care- 
 fully concealed from every ordinary ofificial. 
 
 ^ As a penal settlement, the place in which I 
 resided was of uncommon interest. The island 
 of Sakhalin is to continental Siberia something 
 worse than what Siberia is to the rest of Russia. 
 Its alleged cruelties are much more notorious. 
 Sakhalin is the penal region which is most 
 distant from St. Petersburg; Korsakoff sk is its 
 most distant settlement, and therefore the most 
 distant penal settlement within the Russian Em- 
 pire. The dreadful reputation of the place and 
 the fear of it are proportionate to its distance. 
 
 \ The period of my residence in Korsakoffsk 
 was within the time when, even more than now, 
 those sent there were almost exclusively double 
 murderers, or such politicals as were consid- 
 ered equally dangerous. They included chiefly 
 
 /^such assassins and brigands as the various pris- 
 ons of continental Siberia had been unable to 
 hold, and who therefore were sent to this island 
 prison for safe-keeping. Sakhalin more than 
 any other penal region is still regarded as inevi- 
 tably the grave of everybody sent there. The 
 knout and other punishments, long since abol- 
 ished everywhere else, are here still retained and 
 practised in fullest force. 
 
 I need hardly say that for a foreigner my ex- 
 perience was exceptional. I believe that it was 
 xxiv 
 
Introduction 
 
 unique. Indeed, several of the officials in Kor- 
 sakoffsk told me that, previous to my coming, 
 no foreigner had ever been known to pass a sin- 
 gle night there. From information recently re- 
 ceived I conclude that this holds good to this 
 day. 
 
 Some of the reviews of my first book on Sak- 
 halin * contained various surmises as to my 
 silence in its pages about the exile question. 
 On this point I will now for the first time say 
 that, whatever were the reasons for this reti- 
 cence, they were entirely self-imposed then, and 
 do not exist at all now. At the present moment 
 I enjoy an honourable and absolute freedom to 
 state the truth and the whole truth as to all facts 
 which came within my own personal knowledge. 
 
 When returning from a more recent trip, a 
 few months since, I learned at Moscow that, in 
 accordance with the five-year time limit of the 
 governmental term of service in Sakhalin, a 
 change of the entire roster of the officials I knew 
 in Korsakofifsk had then been completed. 
 
 Should these pages meet the eye of any of 
 these gentlemen, I am sure that he will admit 
 the impartiality with which I have presented 
 facts, even though he may dififer from me as to 
 some of my conclusions. 
 
 Life with Trans-Siberian Savages. Longmans & Co., 
 LondoTi and New York, 1893. 
 
 XXV 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 My photographic views, I regret to say, 
 went down and were lost in the Httle Japanese 
 trader which I chartered to take me from Sak- 
 halin to explore the island of Yezo in Japan. 
 
 Benjamin Howard. 
 
 XXVI 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. Vladivostok i 
 
 II. The Vladivostok Prison .... 15 
 
 III. To Sakhalin 41 
 
 IV. The Reputation of Sakhalin ... 57 
 
 V. KORSAKOFFSK WAYS 69 
 
 VI. My First Sunday in Korsakoffsk . . 92 
 
 VII. The Korsakoffsk Prison . . . .111 
 
 VIII. The Food of the Exiles . . . .130 
 
 IX. The Occupations of Exiles .... 138 
 
 X. Women Exiles, Marriage Problems, and 
 
 Colonization 155 
 
 XI. The Knout, its Use and Effects . . . 180 
 
 XII. Life of the Officials Dangers of Cruelty 209 
 
 XIII. Baptism of Exile Children The Blessing 
 
 OF THE Waters 224 
 
 XIV. Private Walks and Talks in Korsakoffsk 236 
 XV. The Hospital 247 
 
 XVI. The Physiognomy of Murderers Remorse 259 
 
 XVII. The Question of Reformation . . . 276 
 XVIII. The Geography and Natural Resources 
 
 of Sakhalin 289 
 
 XIX. A General View of the Siberian Penal 
 
 System Its Aim 329 
 
 XX. The Anglo-American and Siberian Penal 
 
 Systems Contrasts 338 
 
 XXI. The Universal Application of the Siberian 
 
 System 354 
 
 XXII. From Sakhalin to Yezo 359 
 
 xxvii 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 FACING 
 PAGE 
 
 Dr. Benjamin Howard .... 
 View of Vladivostok, looking southwest 
 A mid-winter mail train in Sakhalin . 
 The Governor's house, Korsakoffsk 
 Prisoners under guard .... 
 Transporting bricks .... 
 
 View near Alexandrovsk, Sakhalin 
 Convicts in hospital .... 
 Woodchoppers returning from work 
 Entrance to the Vladimirsk mine . 
 A group of Sakhalin miners and their families 
 Matsui Sau and Dr. Howard 
 
 Frontispiece 
 
 6 
 60 
 
 86 
 124 
 152 
 214 
 250 
 298 
 316 
 334 
 364 
 
 XXIX 
 
PRISONERS OF RUSSIA 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 VLADIVOSTOK 
 
 Reckoning from St. Petersburg, the coun- 
 try of which I have chiefly to write is the most 
 distant penal district within the Russian Em- 
 pire, and the post at which I resided the most 
 distant settlement within its boundaries. 
 
 Of the better-known books of Siberian trav- 
 el, that of Mr. Kennan takes the reader as far as 
 Nertchinsk; while that of the Rev. Mr. Lansdell 
 carries him about two thousand miles farther, to 
 Vladivostok, beyond which he tried to go, but, 
 like others before him, found it impracticable. 
 It is here, where Mr. Lansdell's account ends, 
 that mine begins. In view of the increasing in- 
 terest in Vladivostok, however, I allow my 
 account to overlap, in this regard only, that of 
 the authors who have preceded me. 
 
 I arrived at Vladivostok, which in this book 
 I take as our starting point, very early on a July 
 morning, and, after looking through each of its 
 three taverns euphemistically called hotels, se- 
 
 I 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 lected the best room available at the Hotel Tis- 
 sier, not only because it had a better situation 
 than either of the others, but also because, from 
 what I could gather, it had a better reputation 
 with the more intelligent classes of Russian so- 
 ciety. 
 
 I found that the Hotel Tissier, like many 
 other houses and things in Vladivostok, though 
 fundamentally Russian, was largely German, 
 slightly French, and considerably American. 
 It is a two-story structure, with a balcony on the 
 second story fronting on the unpaved street, the 
 back part being so built into the steep hill behind 
 it that the ground floor in the rear becomes the 
 second floor in front. Like all the other build- 
 ings in the town, it is entirely of wood, the ex- 
 terior painted a dead white except the blinds or 
 shutters, most of which are green, as is seen so 
 generally in New England. 
 
 The rooms on the ground floor are sepa- 
 rated from each other only by archways. They 
 are rudely furnished, and are used respectively 
 as bar, restaurant, and billiard-room, as much by 
 the general public as by the ten or fifteen guests 
 of the house. They form its main entrance, un- 
 less one chooses to use a little back-garden 
 gate on the hillside in the rear. At the side of 
 the house, under an awning, are little tables in 
 the continental fashion, forming a beer-garden 
 
 2 
 
Vladivostok 
 
 which is a favourite resort of the hotel people 
 at about the time when the guests want to go 
 to bed, the hilarity usually reaching its height 
 wl*n the sleepless visitors begin to think of get- 
 ting up. 
 
 As the liquid refreshments sold at this dis- 
 tant place are for the most part brought all the 
 way from France and Germany, and the cost of 
 each libation averages about twenty-five cents, 
 I inferred that the residents could not be suffer- 
 ing very severely from poverty. 
 
 In the liberality of its convivial habits, 
 Vladivostok reminded me of some of the Col- 
 orado and California mining towns. I attributed 
 it to the fact that Vladivostok is the last and only 
 seaport town on this side of the north pole 
 where this sort of diversion can be indulged in. 
 The metropolis of the Primorsk was evidently 
 prepared to meet the demand for its staple com- 
 modity. 
 
 . The most notable and interesting factor in 
 the Hotel Tissier was Tissier himself. By birth 
 a Greek, he was a Russian by adoption. Not a 
 country did I mention but he had been in it. 
 Italian he had picked up in Italy, French in 
 France; his American, which was very pro- 
 nounced, he had acquired in California, his 
 Scotch in Glasgow. He seemed to have tried 
 his hand at almost everything. Shipwrecked a 
 
 3 3 
 
 / 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 few years previously in the Okhotsk Sea, he had 
 drifted about for forty-eight hours with two 
 other survivors in an open boat. When this 
 was sighted by a passing sail, Tissier was the 
 only man of the party who was not quite dead. 
 Stranded at Vladivostok, he took the manage- 
 ment of a small tavern, and, being now pretty 
 well cured of his thirst for adventure, he stuck 
 to his business and built his hotel. 
 
 Alert and amiable, shrewd, yet generous, 
 he took a joyous delight in promoting the hap- 
 piness of his guests. On this farther edge of 
 the world the newly arrived visitor, wherever 
 he came from, was greeted cordially in his 
 own tongue, and quickly made to feel that 
 at the Hotel Tissier he was not far from 
 home. 
 
 Alas for Tissier! Alas still more for Mme. 
 Tissier! The night before' I left the hotel he 
 talked for some time with me in the confidential 
 way people reserve for only a sympathetic listen- 
 er. I had bid him good-night, and was half-way 
 up the stairs, when he came running back and 
 half whispered in his* best California dialect, 
 which he affected when in his specially friendly 
 moods, this postscript: "Yes, it's all very true 
 what you have just said I've got a good stand. 
 Yes, that's a fact, and I'm all nicely fixed; yes, 
 you can bet your bottom dollar on that, but, you 
 
 4 
 
Vladivostok 
 
 see, I'm too well fixed that's so. I'm so com- 
 fortable that I tell you it's getting darn'd tedious, 
 that's what's the matter! " 
 
 Of the two rooms I had found vacant on my 
 arrival, my choice depended on the fact that in 
 the one case I should have to pass through the 
 room of my neighbour, while in the other case 
 he would have to pass through mine; so out of 
 regard for the feelings of this as yet prospective 
 personage I took the end one, notwithstanding 
 the abominable dung-heap which was on a level 
 with my windows, overlooking the little back 
 garden of wild flowers and weeds. 
 
 The situation of Vladivostok is just suffi- 
 ciently picturesque to be fruitful of inconve- 
 niences. With the exception of one straggling 
 street leading to the only pass through the 
 mountains in the rear to the main Siberian road, 
 the town consists chiefly of a single, long, un- 
 paved street, cut into the face of the hillside, 
 parallel with the shore, from which the acclivity 
 continues to the top of the high range of hills 
 immediately behind it, strongly suggestive of 
 Ventnor in the Isle of Wight. 
 
 Along the upper side of this street are houses 
 at irregular intervals, including the three tav- 
 erns, also three very large general stores, thor- 
 oughly American, but owned by Germans, in 
 which you can buy a spool of thread, negotiate 
 
 5 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 for a whole ship's cargo, or get a draft cashed 
 on any well-known bank in Europe. 
 
 At the north end, just beyond the Hotel Tis- 
 sier, on a commanding eminence, stands the 
 newly built and imposing Greek church, and at 
 the extreme opposite end is the prison. 
 
 On the lower side of the street, sloping to- 
 wards the harbour, is the residence of the mayor 
 and governor, also the pretty Httle Naval Club; 
 but these are built so low into the bank as not 
 to obstruct the view of the beautiful harbour 
 from the street above them. 
 
 On some lower-lying land beyond the 
 church, and out of sight from the main street, 
 are the hospital, the avenue, and the Govern- 
 ment workshops, including the navy yard, re- 
 pairing docks, and everything forming a com- 
 plete naval station. This is the most thoroughly 
 protected part of the harbour. 
 
 My first impression of the supposed security 
 of Vladivostok, from a military point of view, 
 was not confirmed by a careful later examina- 
 tion. 
 
 The forts, which wisely enough are earth- 
 works, and which command the narrow entrance 
 to the harbour on the left as ships approach it, 
 are built on a very long, sandy promontory, 
 which is so narrow that one could fire right 
 across it with a navy revolver. This is all there 
 6 
 
o 
 
 (n 
 
 bo 
 
 C 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
Vladivostok 
 
 is to separate the harbour and the town from a 
 large and deep bay, which, on the south, indents 
 the coast very near to Vladivostok. Accord- 
 ingly, in case of war, the town and harbour would 
 be open to bombardment by gun-boats in front 
 and in flank across the strip of land, while troops 
 could simultaneously be landed about three miles 
 to the south, whence, by a fairly good road which 
 exists, they might attack the town directly in the 
 rear. 
 
 I should have been greatly surprised if I had 
 not learned, as I did afterward from some Rus- 
 sian ofBcers who spoke with delightful frankness 
 on the subject, that this gross military defect in 
 the site of Vladivostok had not only brought 
 severe censure upon the officers who had se- 
 lected it, but that even after the town had 
 been fairly built, there had been a strong incHna- 
 tion to shift it to the opposite side of the har- 
 bour. 
 
 The weakness of the present site is precisely 
 the same as that which would have been fatal 
 to Sebastopol after the Alma, and is beyond 
 remedy. 
 
 On reconnoitring the country to the rear of 
 the town, however, I found that on the route I 
 have mentioned troops were at the time hard at 
 work erecting earthworks on nearly every neigh- 
 bouring hilltop. Still, having been actively en- 
 
 7 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 gaged in three sieges, I ventured to express the 
 opinion that a few days' bombardment would 
 demonstrate that in its present site Vladivostok 
 is untenable. 
 
 I made my personal examination of the po- 
 sition undisguised and openly. Several times 
 I have been asked how I managed to do it. I 
 can only reply that I didn't manage it at all; I 
 simply did it. Without permission or remark I 
 walked from my hotel along the route in which 
 I felt an interest, taking some care, perhaps, not 
 to appear unduly concerned where my interest 
 was greatest. I sauntered by the companies of 
 various regiments, and saw their rifle practice 
 with targets and dummy figures, their bayonet 
 practice, and their company and regimental 
 drill. 
 
 As the road which I have mentioned is the 
 only one in this direction, I needs followed it 
 on my return, passing various soldiers and offi- 
 cers, who appeared to have no more idea of in- 
 terfering with me than I had of arresting them. 
 I was quite content to have it so, as I had not 
 even a passport with me; hence, in the other 
 event, I might have suffered considerable in- 
 convenience. 
 
 Fresh from this experience, I found no little 
 amusement in a conversation which I overheard 
 that very evening between two travellers at the 
 
 8 
 
Vladivostok 
 
 hotel. They told of various foreigners who had 
 been reckless enough to wander alone beyond 
 the city limits, and had suffered the usual conse- 
 quence of imprisonment as spies during the 
 long period which was required to establish their 
 innocence. Considering that these stories were 
 being told in the very town where the alleged 
 incidents were said to have occurred, they struck 
 me as fair samples of inaccuracy. What they 
 might grow to be by the time they should reach 
 England or America it is impossible to calcu- 
 late. 
 
 It is not often that a traveller finds himself 
 in a seaport town which is new, where almost 
 every house is still glistening in its first coat of 
 paint; yet the interest it had for me lay not so 
 much in the newness as in the future of this 
 place, which bears a name meaning " the Lord 
 of the East." 
 
 As is usual in a new town, the optimists pre- 
 ponderate among the seers and prophets in 
 Vladivostok. 
 
 The beauty of its site, every part of which 
 looks down upon the beautiful harbour and 
 across the bay of the Golden Horn to the Sea 
 of Japan, the clearness of its atmosphere, and the 
 supposed coolness of its summer climate, have 
 caused it to receive some attention as a pro- 
 spective summer resort for debilitated Euro- 
 
 9 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 peans from India, China, and other parts of the 
 Far Orient. 
 
 Though this harbour is ice-bound for many 
 months in the winter, during several nights I 
 found myself promenading my bed-room with 
 my head tied up in an old muslin curtain as a 
 protection against the hosts of virulent mosqui- 
 toes, the thermometer in the daytime register- 
 ing 78 Fahr. in the shade. Strange as it may 
 seem, the residents themselves regard the sum- 
 mer season as the most disagreeable part of the 
 year. 
 
 In connection with the future commercial 
 prospects of Vladivostok, it is of interest to note 
 that, excepting only Hakodate, it is the only 
 safe and available harbour along the entire 
 stretch of coast between the Yellow Sea and the 
 north pole. This harbour affords facilities for 
 vessels of every class, its depth at its entrance 
 being from sixty to a hundred and twenty feet, 
 and at its shallowest parts from thirty to sixty 
 feet. 
 
 ^ During the summer this port is visited by 
 one or two war-ships from the Asiatic squad- 
 rons of various nations. It is the arrival and 
 departure of these which mark the principal 
 social events, and also the fluctuations in the 
 market prices of provisions and local commodi- 
 ties. 
 
 10 
 
Vladivostok 
 
 Besides the war-ships, from sixty to seventy 
 merchant vessels visit Vladivostok during the 
 summer, and these, with the men-of-war, Chi- 
 nese and Japanese junks, and one or more local 
 steamers in the harbour, form, in the height of 
 the season, a lively contrast to the monotonous 
 dulness of the rest of the year. x 
 
 The civilian population, which is ever-vary- 
 ing, consists of a rare conglomeration of nation- 
 alities, including Germans, Finns, Swedes, 
 Americans, Koreans, and Chinamen, but only ' 
 one Englishman. Stranger still, the trade of the 
 place is managed without the help of a single 
 Scotchman. The larger merchants and the 
 clerks they employ are almost exclusively Ger- 
 man, and those of them I met seemed strikingly 
 enterprising, courteous, and efficient. 
 
 Apart from these, the preponderating ele- 
 ment is altogether formed by the Russian offi- 
 cials. Almost every person I met, indeed, was 
 an officer either in the army, navy, or civil serv- 
 ice; and of these not a few, I was told, had been 
 ordered on duty out here as a mild sort of pun- 
 ishment or reprimand. / 
 
 Two of the regimental companies I saw on 
 parade in Vladivostok struck me, in their uni- 
 formly superb physique, as equal to the English 
 Life Guards or any troops I ever saw anywhere. 
 On inquiry I learned that every man of them 
 II 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 was a native of Siberia, and took particular pride 
 in the fact. 
 
 What the exports of the place were it was 
 not easy to discover, but the imports included 
 almost every article in use, and, according to 
 of^cial statements, they represented an amount 
 more than twenty times the value of the ex- 
 ports. 
 
 As compared with other Siberian towns, 
 nothing struck me so forcibly in Vladivostok as 
 the superior air of intelligence and freedom of 
 the people, which again, even more than the ap- 
 pearance of the buildings, was suggestive of a 
 town in western America. When I remarked 
 on this to a prominent merchant, he replied with 
 boyish hilarity, " Ah ! you see, we are so far from 
 St. Petersburg that we do pretty much as we 
 like here." 
 
 During my stay in the town, once, and once 
 only, did I see a resident lady in the street, and 
 her costume was strictly Siberian in its unat- 
 tractiveness. 
 
 Among the public institutions of Vladivos- 
 tok I found those of an educational and a relig- 
 ious nature to be of a decidedly favourable char- 
 acter. The imposing size of the new church 
 building fairly expresses the sanguine nature of 
 local expectations. There was another church 
 also, which had recently been erected. This 
 
 12 
 
Vladivostok 
 
 second house of worship, which is Lutheran, 
 has also a house for its resident clergyman, who 
 is paid by the Government, as chaplain to the 
 Lutheran soldiers, and is one of only four or five 
 Protestant clergymen in all Siberia. This cler- 
 gyman was absent visiting military and other 
 communicants at different stations farther north 
 at the time of my visit, but some time afterward 
 I met him in Sakhalin, and was much pleased to 
 see the great respect and generous hospitality 
 with which he was treated by the highest offi- 
 cials. He was a capital specimen of the muscu- 
 lar Christian type; and this he needed to be, as 
 his tour of visitations, he told me, included an 
 area of about two thousand miles. 
 
 . The charity organization society, I was in- 
 formed, was in active working order, and in a 
 minor degree extended its operations to prison- 
 ers. Besides two free schools, there is an excel- 
 lent girls' boarding-school, and others exclu- 
 sively for the daughters of officers. The most 
 important of the educational institutions in the 
 place, however, is the Boys' Gymnasium, which 
 is directly connected with the higher-class Gov- 
 ernment schools throughout the Empire. In 
 the upper grades of this school all the pupils 
 are obliged to learn English, and are fully pre- 
 pared to enter upon professional studies in any 
 of the Russian universities. 
 
 13 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 The telegraph stations are a matter of con- 
 spicuous interest in Vladivostok. From one of 
 them you can send a message to London via Si- 
 beria, and from the other by the Great Northern 
 Telegraph Company via Hakodate, Nagasaki, 
 Shanghai, India, and Suez. The business is 
 about equally divided between the two lines. 
 On the Siberian system one wire is reserved ex- 
 clusively for international messages, about two- 
 thirds of which are in English. 
 
 As fairly illustrative of the high salaries usu- 
 ally paid to European clerks in the Asiatic 
 branches of European establishments, it may be 
 mentioned that in the English station here a 
 telegraph clerk begins with over three hundred 
 pounds a year, while in the Russian service a 
 corresponding clerk, being a Russian, begins 
 with less than fifty. 
 
 The great fact which is to be the starting 
 point of a new era in Vladivostok, and which at 
 the time of my visit was the supreme topic of 
 conversation, is the trans-Siberian railway, of 
 which the town is to be the most easterly Asiatic 
 terminus, and Port Arthur, for the present, the 
 most southerly. This railroad is expected to af- 
 fect immensely the trade of Vladivostok, the 
 penal administration throughout Siberia, and 
 also international commerce. 
 
 14 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE VLADIVOSTOK PRISON 
 
 My first and greatest interest here, as in 
 other Siberian towns, was in the prisoners and 
 their treatment. 
 
 According to the republican spirit which, in 
 contrast to the rest of Siberia, seems to prevail 
 in Vladivostok, no questions had been asked me 
 about my passport on the day of my arrival. 
 As the best way of forming an acquaintance 
 with the prison officials, however, I presented 
 it in person to the Chief of Police, and paid my 
 respects to him at the same time. Though he 
 was at first severely formal, his interest height- 
 ened into evident amusement as he glanced over 
 the document, which was already so covered 
 with stamps and vises as to leave no space for the 
 important addition of his own. After looking 
 at it carefully, he gradually relaxed, and calling 
 for '' Passgros," courteously requested me to 
 smoke a cigarette with him. 
 
 The same evening, while I was at dinner, 
 the waiter handed me a card with an unusual 
 
 15 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 amount of deference. It was that of the Chief 
 of Police, who promptly appeared in full official 
 regalia and as dapper as a toy soldier. I was 
 fortunately alone, and he was kind enough to 
 join me at dessert, during which his affability 
 was delightful. 
 
 Not unnaturally he asked me a great many 
 questions, while I was careful to ask very few, 
 and to assume an air of respectful indifference 
 to everything except what concerned his own 
 comfort. It was evident that he had not yet 
 recovered from his amazement at my passport, 
 and at what he called my wonderful travels. He 
 seemed still more surprised when I informed 
 him that I represented nothing and nobody but 
 myself, that I was neither a journalist nor an 
 author, and would never aspire to be either the 
 one or the other a statement which was quite 
 true at the time I made it. I told him that from 
 early boyhood I had indulged in the notion that, 
 finding myself in this world, I ought not will- 
 ingly to go to another until I had thoroughly 
 seen and studied it; that I had long felt that to 
 have a sympathetic comprehension of the differ- 
 ent forms of barbarism, religion, and civilization, 
 it was of the first importance to have lived with 
 the peoples among which they were respective- 
 ly found; and that, simply for my own educa- 
 tion, I had been most of the time pursuing this 
 
 i6 
 
The Vladivostok Prison 
 
 course in a leisurely manner during the last 
 twenty years. Therefore, as I had visited most 
 of the other more distant parts of the Russian 
 Empire, I had now come to see for myself the 
 latest example of Russian progress as exhibited 
 in the Primorsk, my farthest objective point 
 being distant Yezo, which island I hoped to ex- 
 plore from north to south. The conclusion to 
 which he accordingly came, and which he did 
 not hesitate to express, was that I must be a very 
 wealthy as well as a very fortunate man. 
 
 At the last moment he reached the question 
 for which I was waiting, " How can I be of any 
 use to you in Vladivostok? " And above all, 
 " Would you care to visit the prisons? " 
 
 To this last proposition I slowly assented, 
 and before we parted an appointment was made 
 for this purpose for the very next morning. 
 
 In negotiating for such an early visit, I had 
 in view the forestalling of any preparation of the 
 prison for my benefit, and thus insuring an ac- 
 quaintance with it in its ordinary condition. 
 
 I felt a special interest in this prison, know- 
 ing it to be in one respect unique among all the 
 prisons of Siberia. 
 
 As is known to all readers of the literature 
 on the subject, Vladivostok is the one and only 
 loophole in all Siberia through which by a bare 
 possibility a runaway exile may dream of smug- 
 
 17 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 gling himself aboard a foreign ship, on which, if 
 undetected, he may as a stowaway leave his be- 
 loved fatherland and perchance within one 
 eventful hour become absolutely a free man. 
 It is by this route that some of the best-known 
 and most influential Russian refugees now in 
 America and England have succeeded in making 
 their escape. 
 
 It will be readily inferred, therefore, that at 
 Vladivostok, both in the town and its ap- 
 proaches, and particularly in the harbour and on 
 all outgoing ships, the vigilance and watchful- 
 ness of the police are greater than in any other 
 part of Siberia. 
 
 On a little hill at the lower end of the town, 
 whence the ships sail, there is a stockade. In- 
 side this is the prison where unfortunates baffled 
 at the supreme moment are promptly immured. 
 
 The next morning, punctually at nine 
 o'clock, the Prefet called, and, our droschkis 
 starting off at a bound at the word " Pashol," we 
 were in three or four minutes sharply halted at 
 the heavy unpainted gates of the huge stockade 
 so common to Siberian prisons. On entering 
 the large yard, I remarked to the Prefet that I 
 did not wish my visit to be an inconvenience, and 
 that he must tell me in advance what were the 
 usual restrictions to which visitors are expected 
 to conform. 
 
 i8 
 
The Vladivostok Prison 
 
 " There are no restrictions," he replied; " go 
 where you like, look at what you like, and ask 
 the prisoners what questions you like. That 
 you may hear as much as you can to put over 
 against anything you may be told by officers 
 like myself, it may be more convenient for you 
 if I point out to you some prisoners who can 
 talk German or French, and, as I can't talk 
 either of these languages very well, you can have 
 your conversations all to yourselves. It is only 
 fair that I put you on your guard in one particu- 
 lar, however, and if you find that I am mistaken 
 you may tell me afterward. You may go all 
 through this prison, but you will probably be 
 unable to discover a single exile convict or pris- 
 oner who will admit that he has done anything 
 wrong, or that he knows what crime he has been 
 accused of committing. You will probably find 
 that every one of those you talk with has been 
 sent here by mistake. The greatest difficulty a 
 Russian magistrate has to deal with is this: the 
 Russian prisoner is so certain to be a liar, that, I 
 must admit, his own testimony is by itself never 
 accepted. The verdict of the judge in every case 
 has to be based entirely upon the testimony of 
 others, upon circumstantial evidence, or upon 
 both combined. The prisoner is always allowed 
 to make his own statement, but the judge, if 
 he has had any experience, believes no part 
 
 4 19 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 of it except what is corroborated by other evi- 
 dence." 
 
 Within this inclosure were several rough 
 wooden sheds or houses of the unpainted Si- 
 berian type, and a large yard about which fifty 
 or sixty prisoners were leisurely strolling, re- 
 minding one of the yard of an English work- 
 house, except that the inmates in this case were 
 without uniforms or badges, each wearing his 
 own clothes and enjoying his own personality. 
 The appearance of a new face seemed to interest 
 them, for instead of shunning us they mani- 
 fested an inclination towards respectful neigh- 
 bourliness, as they dofifed their caps and looked 
 expectant, as if hoping for a little conversation. 
 
 The front building and the largest, where we 
 commenced our rounds, was used in almost its 
 entire length as a general lounging place alter- 
 native to the yard. On three sides it had the 
 usual raised and inclined wooden benches which 
 are used universally in Russian barracks and 
 prisons, and which at night serve as sleeping 
 berths. At the time we entered this room there 
 might have been about forty or fifty prisoners 
 there, simply lounging on the benches, some 
 gossiping, and some playing with dirty diminu- 
 tive cards. 
 
 From this large room or hall we entered a 
 large passage to the left, flanked on either side 
 20 . 
 
The Vladivostok Prison 
 
 by cells. The greater number of these were 
 open and unoccupied, but some of those which 
 were closed were unlocked at my request. Each 
 cell was, I should say, about eight feet wide and 
 fourteen feet long. Being entirely constructed 
 of wood, and the dividing walls being partitions 
 that reached only part of the way to the ceiling, 
 they lacked the sensation of dampness which 
 strikes a visitor in the driest of stone cells. With 
 these partial divisions, the confinement could 
 hardly be termed solitary. 
 
 The wooden bunk in the cell served both for 
 sleeping and sitting, either of which prisoners 
 seemed free to indulge in in their own way. 
 We passed leisurely from building to building, 
 each of which closely resembled the others in its 
 simple, wooden, barrack-like bareness. Every- 
 where the furniture consisted of the same wood- 
 en bunk only, except in the general room or 
 hall, where there was one table, but no seats 
 other than the bunk. 
 
 Speaking generally, there was nothing in any 
 part of the prison to impress a visitor with the 
 idea of cleanliness, neatness, or method. Nor, 
 on the other hand, was there apparent anything 
 notably obnoxious. The latrines at the rear 
 part of the yard, however, were evidently al- 
 lowed to be as repulsive as the prisoners chose 
 to make them. The predominant impression 
 
 21 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 from the beginning to the end of the visit, here 
 as in Siberian prisons generally, was one of utter 
 shiftlessness in the management. 
 
 The prisoners themselves were certainly a 
 motley crew. They were free to wash as much 
 as they chose, and, indeed, had nothing to do 
 but to wash; it appeared, however, to be gener- 
 ally regarded as a sacred right to remain dirty. 
 To this there were, of course, all sorts of excep- 
 tions, and it was just this personal freedom, com- 
 bined with the retention of their own clothing, 
 which checkered this motley crowd with its vari- 
 ously interesting or repulsive personalities, and 
 which to a shrewd character reader furnished a 
 clew to their respective histories. The promis- 
 cuousness of this . generally dishevelled group 
 strongly reminded me of other groups which I 
 had seen in days gone by, in some temporary 
 Northern prisons, where Southern civilian rebels 
 were confined during the American conflict for 
 and against secession. 
 
 True to his own proposal, made to me on 
 entering the prison, the Prefet now purposely 
 turned away, conversing with one or two ward- 
 ens, and left me entirely free to wander about 
 in my own way, and to talk without restraint 
 with several of the prisoners who had been 
 pointed out to me as being able to converse in 
 French or German. 
 
 22 
 
The Vladivostok Prison 
 
 There was no hindrance to this in the shape 
 of shackles, for, much to my surprise, I had not 
 yet detected a leg chain, or even a pair of hand- 
 cuffs, either in use or out of use, in any part of 
 the prison. 
 
 My principal dif^culty now arose from the 
 prisoners themselves, for at each attempt to take 
 one of them aside for the strictly private conver- 
 sation I desired, the eagerness of others to join 
 in was so great, and the babel of complaints so 
 voluminous, that, before any one of them could 
 make himself intelligible, his voice was almost 
 sure to be drowned in jargon and confusion. I 
 seemed to be regarded by these unfortunates as 
 a rare and heaven-sent medium, a few moments 
 with whom might secure a publication of their 
 wrongs, so all of them insisted on making the 
 most of their opportunity at the same moment. 
 
 It must not be imagined that I was inclined 
 to blame them for this, particularly in their con- 
 dition, for anywhere, everywhere, and in what- 
 ever circumstances, Russians are apt to talk as 
 canary-birds sing, which is not at all, or all to- 
 gether. 
 
 One of the prisoners particularly attracted 
 my attention, for, though evidently his only 
 comb and brush were his fingers, his shaggy 
 condition was painfully incongruous with the re- 
 finement of his features and bearing. 
 23 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 This prisoner spoke capital French and fairly 
 good German, and, as most of the others did not 
 understand either of these languages, he and I 
 were able to have our talk to ourselves undis- 
 turbed. When we were out of hearing of the 
 others this poor fellow informed me that within 
 two hours of its sailing, and in the course of the 
 final police search, he had been discovered in the 
 hold of an American ship, where he had hidden 
 until he was almost dead for want of food, hav- 
 ing, however, in the semi-unconsciousness of ex- 
 haustion, neglected the slight precaution of con- 
 cealing his feet, which, sticking out from some 
 part of the cargo, had betrayed him. 
 
 In solemn confidence he then confessed to 
 me that he was a political exile who had served 
 his good-conduct term in Nertchinsk, and with a 
 false passport, and under various disguises, had 
 made his way across the remaining part of Si- 
 beria, managing finally, by adroitness and a little 
 bribery, to go out to the ship on a lighter late 
 at night as a pretended stevedore. He had de- 
 stroyed his false passport, and any identification 
 or proof against him prior to his discovery 
 must depend upon the ingenuity of the au- 
 thorities. 
 
 He said that he had reason to believe that a 
 good many more of his fellow-prisoners were 
 there under similar conditions, but that, as they 
 
 24 
 
The Vladivostok Prison 
 
 were all very suspicious of each other, he was not 
 quite certain except in one instance. 
 
 I felt very much touched by the frankness of 
 this charming fellow's confidence and the sigh of 
 relief which followed his confession. Something 
 furtively passed from my waistcoat pocket to 
 his hand, and, assuming a brusque expression, 
 which I saw he understood, I turned away with 
 a sad heart. The sense of utter helplessness on 
 such occasions is simply crushing. 
 
 The prediction of the Prefet was fully veri- 
 fied by the other prisoners I interviewed. 
 " What brings you here? " " I don't know." 
 " But what have you done? " " I don't know." 
 " How long have you been here? " " Six 
 weeks," " three months," " five months," would 
 be the various answers. " But why have you 
 not had a trial? " " I don't know. Won't you 
 please ask the Prefet and tell me? " 
 
 This prolonged detention with only occa- 
 sional and repeated remands, but without final 
 trial, was on all hands the supreme complaint, 
 and it seemed to me so entirely just and rea- 
 sonable that I was determined to try to get 
 some explanation of it at the earliest oppor- 
 tunity. 
 
 Taking my own route, I pried into every 
 nook and cranny for chains, plets, rods, and other 
 instruments of torture, but, although some were 
 
 25 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 doubtless available in case of need, none was 
 visible. 
 
 The worst and most degrading factor among 
 prisoners merely under detention is the enforced 
 idleness, the herding together of so many with- 
 out anything whatever to occupy them. The 
 demoralization of the prisoners resulting from 
 this is the prime source of insubordination and 
 outbreak on the one hand, and, on the other, 
 of the alleged acts of cruelty by the officers who 
 are held responsible for order. I heard after- 
 ward that, incident to this lax condition of 
 things, the prison wardens were very susceptible 
 to bribery. I received no specific proofs on this 
 point, but under the circumstances it was easily 
 possible. 
 
 The Prefet, when told that I had seen all 
 I desired to see, positively thanked me for the 
 interest I had taken in his department. He went 
 farther: he ordered the droschki to stop at a hotel 
 nearer than my own, and insisted that I should 
 do him the favour of joining him at a luncheon 
 he had already ordered. He begged me to tell 
 him without reserve the impressions made upon 
 me by my visit to the prison, and also to ask 
 any questions which might occur to me concern- 
 ing the general penal administration at Vladi- 
 vostok. 
 
 The questions I did ask may be inferred from 
 26 
 
The Vladivostok Prison 
 
 a brief report of the Prefet's more interesting 
 answers. 
 
 " Your questions," he said, "about the pro- 
 longed detentions without a final trial, also 
 about the institution of habeas corpus, are very 
 large questions indeed, and very pertinent. In 
 older and more completely organized countries 
 habeas corpus is invaluable, though even in such 
 countries, not only in the United States but in 
 England also, there have been times when this 
 process has had to be suspended. Between 
 these countries and Russia the differences are so 
 great that your reasonings from analogy may 
 lead to very false and unjust conclusions. 
 
 " In Russia, under our present conditions, 
 we think it less deplorable that a few innocent 
 persons should suffer by mistake than that the 
 whole body of citizens and the Government it- 
 self should be in perpetual peril as a result of 
 undue leniency. 
 
 " Look at the facts as they exist to-day right 
 here in Vladivostok. You think you have dis- 
 covered that a large proportion of the prisoners 
 you have seen and talked with this morning 
 have already been there for an unreasonable 
 period, and that a still larger number are there 
 without knowing the crime that is alleged 
 against them, and are therefore without means 
 of meeting any charge when it may be made 
 27 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 against them in open court. I will allow for the 
 sake of the argument that this is true, and, as 
 you say, as sad as it is true. 
 
 " Now let us look at the other side my 
 side, we will say. It is unnecessary to say to one 
 who knows Siberia so well as you do that if 
 Vladivostok is allowed to become a free port of 
 exit for fugitives, then good-bye to the coloni- 
 zation of Siberia! 
 
 " If a fugitive succeeds in escaping, who is 
 it that gets reprimanded? Myself. If at differ- 
 ent times several escape, who is it that is per- 
 manently disgraced perhaps cashiered? My- 
 self. Now then, how am I to prevent such es- 
 capes? 
 
 " Every Russian absent from home knows 
 full well that he must always be ready to pro- 
 duce his true passport. Whenever we find such 
 a person, whose passport appears suspicious, or 
 who is without one, whether we have been put 
 on his track or not, we take that fact as a crime, 
 a negative one if you will, but in the eye of the 
 law a crime for all that. 
 
 " On finding such a person, therefore, we put 
 him for safe-keeping into the prison you have 
 just visited until either he or we can satisfy the 
 court as to his identity and history. This pris- 
 on, then, is perhaps chiefly a House of Deten- 
 tion. 
 
 28 
 
The Vladivostok Prison 
 
 " If such a person is innocent, it is generally 
 a very easy matter for him to furnish proof of 
 his innocence within a comparatively short time. 
 If, on the other hand, his forged, exchanged, or 
 lost passport is a mere cover and part of a fraud- 
 ulent disguise, the procuring of an authentic 
 identification and history of him by ourselves is, 
 as he knows and as he intends it to be, a tedious, 
 difficult, and sometimes an impossible task. He 
 may have zigzagged his way with different 
 passports and under different names for thou- 
 sands of miles through the wildest parts of 
 Siberia. Imagine, if you can, the amount of 
 correspondence and time required before an 
 authenticated history of such a man can be 
 presented in court against him." 
 
 " Now, Monsieur le Prefet, suppose the 
 prisoner confesses nothing and the court dis- 
 covers nothing, say for many months, what is 
 the upshot of it all? " 
 
 "Ah!" said the Prefet, "now you have 
 struck the one object of the trick. The prison- 
 ers all know that in such an event they can only 
 be convicted as ' vagabonds.' For this the se- 
 verest sentence the law allows is a comparatively 
 light one. It is thus that some of the cleverest 
 and most dangerous murderers and other exiles 
 have managed to elude a life sentence, and to 
 get off with the milder and shorter one which, 
 29 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 in spite of our better judgment, the law compels 
 us in such case to substitute for it. 
 
 " Why," continued my host, '' you know as 
 well as I do that all through Siberia there are 
 convicts who are just as much ' professionals ' 
 in this ' Brodyas ' or runaway business as were 
 some of the soldiers in the American army, or 
 in the bounty-jumping business; and it is exact- 
 ly the most dangerous who are the most clever 
 at it. Some of these fellows who have managed 
 to exchange a life passport for a ' vagabond's 
 passport ' will sell it for a good sum in exchange 
 for another Hfe-sentence passport, and, trusting 
 to their clever devices, will go on repeating their 
 trick again and again in far-distant localities, 
 thus making considerable sums of money. 
 These are the rascals who, according to circum- 
 stances, can be the most craven of beggars and 
 the most cruel of murderers. When hard 
 pressed they stop at nothing. They are the 
 brigands of Siberia." 
 
 " And may I ask. Monsieur le Prefet, what 
 you do with one of this class when you at last 
 succeed in convicting him? " 
 
 " Do with him? We send him out of the 
 world." 
 
 " But I was not aware that Russian criminal 
 law authorized either hanging or shooting, or 
 any form of punishment certain to prove fatal." 
 30 
 
The Vladivostok Prison 
 
 " Just so you are quite right. But as you 
 seem anxious to go to the bottom of the ques- 
 tion, I may tell you that we have a place which 
 is a sort of purgatory for these fellows. There 
 the career of a ' Brodyas ' is hopelessly extin- 
 guished. 
 
 " Many hundred miles from here, out in the 
 Okhotsk Sea, there is an island which on the 
 maps is named Saghalien, or Sakhalin. Among 
 the people it is called Ostrov Proklyatuick, or 
 * Isle of the Lost.* There a false passport is not 
 worth the trouble of writing it. Passport or no 
 passport, it's all the same there." 
 
 The Prefet had kindly offered to supply me 
 with a guide at any time I might wish to visit 
 First River Village, an exile settlement founded 
 by a former philanthropic Governor in a pretty 
 little valley only about three or four miles from 
 Vladivostok, where he placed certain people 
 whom he selected from the gangs which were 
 passing through his hands en route to Sakhalin. 
 
 I declined the offer, because I have found 
 that no traveller can learn what is most worth 
 knowing in foreign countries if he goes as one 
 of a party, but went with my interpreter instead. 
 
 As we entered the village, I noticed at the 
 end of a cottage garden a woman milking her 
 cow. So, taking a seat on a very dirty old 
 wheel-barrow, I said to her, " If you saw a poor 
 
 31 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 man who had not had his breakfast, would you 
 be wilHng to sell him a glass of your new milk? " 
 
 With a humorous smile she replied, '' If he 
 were poor I would sell it to him at five kopecks 
 a glass; if he were rich I would give it to him 
 for nothing, because then his Honour would 
 give me at least ten kopecks for it." 
 
 I helped her to carry her bucket to her kitch- 
 en, and she immediately strained some milk for 
 me, placed a pitcher of it, with a couple of glass- 
 es, on a little rustic table under a trellised vine 
 which shaded her doorway, and became as so- 
 ciable as I could wish. 
 
 The story of her exile, as nearly as I could 
 get it, was this: Her husband had been a soldier 
 in the Imperial Guards, in the main an excellent 
 man, if convivial in his tastes. But during a 
 bout with some of his companions a drunken 
 quarrel occurred, and blows were exchanged, 
 from one of which his opponent afterward died. 
 For this he was sentenced to Siberia, where, 
 like thousands of other wives, she chose to ac- 
 company him at Government expense. 
 
 They had been allowed to build their own 
 house in their own way, with the help of their 
 neighbours and with the tools which the Gov- 
 ernment lent them for the purpose. Their 
 clothing and food rations had been supplied to 
 them the same as if they were in prison, and later 
 32 
 
The Vladivostok Prison 
 
 on, when they preferred it, they had been al- 
 lowed to receive a money commutation instead. 
 The clothing provided for all once a year con- 
 sisted of a sheepskin coat, under-linen, three 
 pairs of summer shoes, two pairs of winter boots, 
 and occasionally a long winter overcoat. 
 
 With the pride of a good housekeeper she 
 showed me through every part of her house, the 
 condition of which was certainly greatly to her 
 credit. 
 
 As her children were about eight and ten 
 years of age, I smiled as I called her attention 
 to a very clumsy wooden cradle swinging from 
 the end of a pliable pole in the front room. 
 Poor woman! On looking over my shoulder 
 when I left the room, I caught her wiping her 
 eyes with a corner of her coarse apron; I could 
 see that I had cruelly awakened a sleeping sor- 
 row which time had not effaced. 
 
 Turning again into the overstocked but 
 slovenly kept flower garden, she informed me 
 that her husband had a good situation in one 
 of the principal stores in Vladivostok, and that 
 the bulk of the farm work was therefore done by 
 herself, the produce being readily sold at good 
 prices in the town. 
 
 The neatness, brightness, and cheerful con- 
 tent in this little convict homestead were cer- 
 tainly equal to anything I had found in the home 
 
 33 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 of any free colonist of a corresponding station 
 in life in any part of Russia, and were such as 
 might provoke the envy of many a Western set- 
 tler in America. 
 
 I next visited a long wooden building four 
 or five times larger than most of the village cot- 
 tages. It occupied the centre of a large clear- 
 ing, had no garden, no allotment, not even a 
 fence around it, and looked rather like a general 
 store-house. I found that it was simply a one- 
 storied tenement, divided up into four or five 
 separate residences, which had evidently been 
 put up to meet some later requirement. 
 
 The door of the end residence being wide 
 open, I mounted the rather high steps leading 
 to it, and was cordially greeted by a superior- 
 looking man who courteously invited me inside, 
 promptly lighted up the samovar, set out glasses 
 and sliced a lemon, drew up a couple of chairs, 
 and, without question or apology, proceeded to 
 prepare the never-failing tchai or tea which 
 every Russian, however poor, is always ready to 
 offer to his guest. 
 
 Though the interior was entirely of roughly 
 hewn timbers and planks, there was on every 
 hand some simple little thing or other which 
 either by its style or arrangement inspired me 
 with unavoidable respect for the personality of 
 its occupant. In every part of his rough apart- 
 34 
 
The Vladivostok Prison 
 
 ment were little revelations of good-breeding. 
 His muddy boots at the door were placed as 
 they would be by a gentleman; his hat and coat 
 were hung on wooden pegs; his simple writing 
 materials were placed neatly and ready for in- 
 stant use; and even the cuspidor had a carved 
 wooden cover which concealed its use and con- 
 verted it into an ornament. His person bore the 
 signs of which these things were the counterpart. 
 His blouse, though coarse, was clean, and the 
 rough leather waist-belt compressed its shape- 
 lessness into neatly plaited folds. His manner, 
 though shy and diffident, as that of exiles gen- 
 erally, was quiet, easy, respectful, and dig- 
 nified. 
 
 He seemed very much pleased at the inter- 
 est I took in the numerous photographs and 
 prints which relieved the roughness of the walls. 
 If I could judge from his changing expression 
 as he pointed some of them out to me, they were 
 precious mementos linking the sad present to a 
 once hopeful past. 
 
 The sum of what I gathered from him dur- 
 ing our long chat was of quite a different nature 
 from the story I have just recounted. He was 
 one of the several unmarried political exiles for 
 whose accommodation this long tenement build- 
 ing had been specially erected. After gradu- 
 ating at a technological school in St. Peters- 
 ' 35 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 burg, he had secured an appointment as an 
 engineer. A friend of his, who had never di- 
 vulged to him the fact that he was a nihiHst, 
 had secured his help in the construction of cer- 
 tain electrical apparatus, which might have been 
 intended for a dozen different purposes. He 
 confined his attention simply to the details of 
 its mechanism, remaining entirely ignorant of 
 the specific use for which his friend intended it. 
 Thus was he dragged into the network of a po- 
 litical plot. 
 
 To the detectives who had discovered both 
 plot and conspirators and traced the appara- 
 tus in question, his protestations of ignorance 
 seemed absurd; to the court which tried him 
 his allegations of innocence were incredible. 
 
 Condemned to penal servitude for life, he at 
 last reached Nickolaivsk en route to Sakhalin. 
 It happened just then that an engineer was want- 
 ed very much in Vladivostok, where all kinds of 
 Government works were then being rapidly 
 pushed forward. He had continued to work 
 there ever since. He told me that he lived rent 
 free, and at the present time was receiving from 
 the Government ten roubles a week besides the 
 money commutation for his rations and Govern- 
 ment clothing, and that, if he could only become 
 oblivious of the police espionage and the restric- 
 tions common to all persons in his position, his 
 
 36 
 
The Vladivostok Prison 
 
 life might be regarded not only as tolerable, but 
 as exceptionally comfortable. 
 
 Though he did not hesitate to express his 
 chagrin at the complete injustice of his situa- 
 tion, his indignation seemed to be directed 
 against his false friends rather than against the 
 Government. The attitude of the citizens of 
 Vladivostok towards him, he said, was one of 
 sympathy and respect, but, as he was obliged to 
 be at home at the prescribed hours, he rarely 
 had an opportunity of mingling with them in 
 their frequent entertainments. 
 
 In Monsieur T I found an entire free- 
 dom from the sullen and suspecting mood exiles 
 so commonly exhibit, and this I attributed in 
 part to his comparative freedom and in part to 
 his consciousness of what I believed to be his 
 entire innocence. 
 
 The special fascination which grew more and 
 more the longer I stayed with him arose largely, 
 perhaps, from a delicate and refined self-suppres- 
 sion not uncommonly found in cultured mem- 
 bers of the Roman Catholic priesthood, and 
 which unconsciously grows upon those who for 
 a long period lead lives of forced or voluntary 
 self-abnegation. It is a curious phenomenon, 
 but in him, as in many others, this manner was 
 unavoidably suggestive of inherent superiority. 
 
 It became known among my Russian friends 
 
 37 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 in Vladivostok that, on leaving there, I purposed 
 to explore the volcanic island of Yezo, begin- 
 ning if possible at Cape Soya at the north and 
 finishing at Hakodate in the south. Judging 
 from the charts in my possession, I thought 
 that my better course would be to manage, if 
 possible, to reach Sakhalin, and thence to strike 
 Soya by crossing in some way the Straits of La 
 Perouse. 
 
 Some of my naval friends thought this proj- 
 ect practicable, others not. I soon learned the 
 many reasons why all previous Siberian travel- 
 lers had quite failed to get as far as Sakhalin, 
 and that since the publication of some of the 
 articles by Mr. Kennan, the official prohibitions 
 were even more strict than before. 
 
 With great regret I was preparing to aban- 
 don the project when a part of the problem re- 
 ceived a most easy solution. 
 
 As I have fully given the details in my Life 
 with Trans-Siberian Savages,* I will simply re- 
 mark here that this solution came to me at a 
 dinner party to which just then I was luckily in- 
 vited. 
 
 At the dinner I happened to be seated next 
 to a remarkably genial Russian prince, to whom 
 I mentioned my wish towards the end of the 
 
 * Longmans, Green & Co. 1893. 
 
 38. 
 
The Vladivostok Prison 
 
 dinner. This led to his introducing me to a mili- 
 tary officer who sat directly opposite us. To my 
 astonishment and delight I found that this offi- 
 cer was none other than the Governor of the 
 southern part of Sakhalin, who resided at Kor- 
 sakoffsk, the very place to which I wished to go. 
 Before the evening was over, this same Governor 
 and myself were warm friends. He told me 
 that he had been taking his annual holiday in 
 Vladivostok, and that, his time being up, he 
 was about to return to his post as soon as the 
 steamer was ready to take him back to his soli- 
 tude. He no sooner discovered that I would 
 like to extend my hands in that direction than 
 he took me bodily in his arms and overwhelmed 
 me with the most effusive invitations to go right 
 along with him and be his guest as long as ever 
 I would stay. This circumstance was so fortu- 
 itous that I almost felt mistrustful of it, thinking 
 it might be simply an outburst of after-dinner 
 exuberance which would be entirely forgotten 
 the next morning. Early on the following day 
 I was consulting Kunst & Albers, my banking 
 agents, about the possible reliability of this sur- 
 prising postprandial invitation, when who should 
 enter the office but this very officer, who also was 
 one of their customers. He quickly showed that 
 he had not forgotten me, and in a few minutes 
 the project was arranged on a basis which made 
 
 39 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 it possible for me to accept the invitation heart- 
 ily and without any misgiving. 
 
 My banker happened to have previously 
 looked over my letter of credit, and, apparently 
 impressed by the amount of it, seemed only too 
 pleased to act as our intermediary. 
 
 I informed my astonished landlord, Tissier, 
 of the invitation, and of my arrangements for 
 an unlimited period in Sakhalin en route to 
 Yezo. He undertook with great enthusiasm 
 the details for the embarkation, and seemed to 
 regard my situation as highly dramatic. 
 
 40 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 TO SAKHALIN 
 
 Early the next morning a boy came to my 
 room in great haste with a Httle bit of Hght- 
 brown paper on which was scrawled, " Baikall 
 in. Starts in two or three hours or as soon as 
 ready. Am sending the colonel's baggage 
 aboard. Tissier." 
 
 Within ten minutes my baggage was in the 
 hands of the porter, and I on the way to 
 Kunst & Albers with a strong little valise to be 
 loaded with silver roubles. 
 
 Directly after my noon dejeuner I took a 
 boat which was waiting for me at a little landing 
 nearly opposite the hotel and rowed out to the 
 steamship Baikall, where I found that one of 
 the best and largest cabins had already been as- 
 signed to me. As is my custom on going aboard 
 a ship, I immediately arranged myself and my 
 belongings so as to have nothing to do after 
 starting. I then awaited the arrival of my friend 
 the Governor and the captain of the vessel. 
 
 Two o'clock, four o'clock, and then six 
 41 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 o^clock came, but with Siberian punctuality 
 neither colonel nor captain had arrived, caus- 
 ing me to fear that perhaps at last there had 
 been a change of orders both for sailing and 
 destination. 
 
 About half-past six, however, my fears were 
 put at rest by the arrival alongside of several 
 
 boats in which were Colonel S , Captain 
 
 Limaschersky, several military officers, and Mr. 
 Schouvaloff, who, with an old friend of mine, a 
 Mr. Tartsoff of Tientsin, was going to have an 
 interview with General Kononovitch, the Gov- 
 ernor-General of Alexandrovsk, on some mat- 
 ters which Mr. Tartsoff told me were of very 
 great importance. 
 
 By seven we got under way and at once din- 
 ner was announced. As usual everywhere under 
 these circumstances, everybody who was a bad 
 sailor was anxious to " make sure " of laying in 
 a good stock of food while capable of it. Being 
 myself a good sailor, and having been told of the 
 currents we should soon encounter, I was mod- 
 estly careful to do exactly the contrary. 
 
 On the second day the weather continued 
 fine, but as we got clear from the shelter of the 
 mainland and well out into the Sea of Japan, we 
 began to encounter the northeastern current, 
 which with steadily increasing force was bound 
 to be exactly dead ahead of us all the way to the 
 42 
 
To Sakhalin 
 
 bay of Aniva. During the latter part of the day- 
 squally weather set in, accompanied by the kind 
 of cross seas frequently met with between Hull 
 and Stockholm. 
 
 At the appointed time the humorous stew- 
 ard ironically rang a brass bell to call yesterday's 
 convivial guests to dinner, but not a cabin door 
 opened. The captain and myself alone respond- 
 ed to the call. The third day brought into 
 view the unfamed but wonderful Island Rishiri- 
 shima. 
 
 This island is about ten miles in length and 
 consists of a single conical mountain, its uni- 
 form sides sweeping in beautiful curve to its 
 apex, a height of about six thousand feet, giv- 
 ing it a monumental appearance almost unique 
 among the islands of the world. Though it is 
 a good way out at sea from the principal island 
 of Japan, and is the first part of the Empire 
 which comes into view from the Siberian direc- 
 tion, had I seen it in any other part of the world 
 it would instantly have suggested Japan to my 
 mind. In Vesuvius, Tenerifife, the Lebanon, 
 and at St. Lucia we have various approxima- 
 tions, but the divine Fuji-Yama is Queen. 
 
 Throughout this sunny day the view of Ris- 
 hiri-shima was a heavenly enchantment, and I 
 wondered I had not heard of its existence. 
 
 At first, above a map of clouds, appeared an 
 43 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 iridescent white cone clear-cut against a deep 
 blue, with a fleecy white pennon floating at its 
 apex. Later the bank of cloud was riven, and as 
 the sun gained power the entire outline of the 
 mountain was completely revealed, the general 
 effect recalling the enchanting phenomenon in 
 chiaroscuro to be seen sometimes at the Taj- 
 Mahal, when the gorgeous reflection from the 
 setting sun yields to the rival light of a rising 
 moon, till this incomparable mausoleum be- 
 comes a silent ghostly presence palpitating with 
 life. In my intense and loving admiration of 
 Fuji, I have lived where, from my balcony, I 
 could follow her changeful aspects from hour to 
 hour, by day or by night, through all the vary- 
 ing seasons of the year; yet, even to my Japan- 
 ese friends, I venture to commend an acquaint- 
 ance with the still more delicate spirituality of 
 her almost unknown sister at the blending of the 
 waters of the Gulf of Tartary and of the Japanese 
 Sea. Compared with many other mountain 
 shrines, Rishiri-shima, with her brighter inspi- 
 ration, will some day come to be regarded, I 
 think, as the most beautiful in the Empire. 
 
 We afterward passed another Japanese is- 
 land, Rebunshiri-shima, and on Saturday morn- 
 ing were off the Straits of La Perouse. On the 
 fourth morning we sighted Cape Nossyass, the 
 most northerly point of the island of Yezo, and 
 44 
 
To Sakhalin 
 
 later on Cape Crillon, the first point of the land 
 for which we were bound. 
 
 An impressive feature of this voyage, and 
 one which indeed continued to the very end, 
 was its solitude. From the deck of our ship not 
 once did we catch sight or sign of a single living 
 thing. 
 
 Everybody being now on deck and employed 
 in becoming acquainted with everybody else, I 
 became conscious that I was being regarded as 
 a very rare bird in those regions, k My friend, 
 
 Governor S , who seemed to know nearly 
 
 every one on board, introduced me all around, 
 always explaining that I was travelling with him 
 to Korsakoffsk, where I was to be his guest 
 through the summer. 
 
 He was a most soldierly looking man, stand- 
 ing full six feet two, and straight as an arrow, 
 with a handsome face, clean shaven, glowing 
 with robust health. As impulsive as a child, he 
 could be by turns just as affectionate and just 
 as tyrannical. He greatly resembled the Ger- 
 man premier Caprivi, and never failed to give 
 an extra twirl to his mustache when reminded 
 of it. 
 
 Captain T , the commander of the Bai- 
 
 kall, was a dark little man, with a simply uncon- 
 trollable vivacity. He had no time for a single 
 thought about himself, so constantly was he 
 45 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 thinking of the comfort and happiness of others. 
 In his versatility he was almost a match for my 
 friend Tissier of Vladivostok, both being of a 
 type only to be found in the more remote cor- 
 ners of creation, where one would be least likely 
 to look for them. 
 
 Born in one of the more northern ports of 
 Norway, trained as an engineer and as a sailor, 
 he had visited most of the ports of the world. 
 Arriving one day at Nickolaivsk, he became a 
 Russian subject, and from first to last had been 
 the only commander of the Baikall. He was 
 equally fluent in French, German, and Russian, 
 and spoke English with remarkable accuracy. 
 What he did not know about this region nobody 
 knew, and anybody he did not know was no- 
 body. We talked together on nearly every 
 question, both general and those which a Rus- 
 sian would usually evade, yet he always ex- 
 pressed himself with a freedom more character- 
 istic of an American. His fund of personal 
 knowledge of the early settlement of Sakhalin 
 I have not found equalled by any other person. 
 Though a martinet as a commander, in the 
 smallest as well as in the largest sense, Captain 
 T was everybody's friend. 
 
 My old friend Mr. Tartsoff, of Tientsin, was 
 one of the most important passengers aboard. 
 A Russian merchant prince, he had the principal 
 
 46 
 
To Sakhalin 
 
 monopoly of the tea caravan trade between the 
 Chinese city and Russia. Whether on com- 
 merce or pontics, his views appeared to be as 
 large and as sound as his experience. For his 
 service to Russian commerce on a certain occa- 
 sion he had been decorated by the Emperor 
 in person at St. Petersburg. It was in connec- 
 tion with an important question touching a pos- 
 sible Russian extension in the direction of Korea, 
 of which he gave me many details, that he and 
 Mr. Schouvaloff, the official administrator of the 
 Baikall, were going to Alexandrovsk. Mr. 
 Schouvaloff was both gracious and generous. 
 He begged me to continue my trip with himself 
 and Mr. Tartsoff as his guest as far as Dui, 
 where he said that he could insure me every hos- 
 pitality. In view of my being an ex-military 
 officer in a foreign regular service, he kindly 
 authorized the captain to charge me only offi- 
 cer's rates, et cetera, then and at any future time 
 I should be travelling on the Baikall, and all this 
 after only the short acquaintance which had com- 
 menced since our departure from Vladivostok. 
 
 The few other passengers on board were offi- 
 cers going to their military posts, and one Rus- 
 sian, who was not an official, but a wealthy mer- 
 chant, of whom I may mention something of 
 interest later on. He was quite free, but only 
 within a certain area. 
 
 47 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 In what other country in the world would 
 an unknown stranger have been treated with 
 such unaffected cordiality and generosity on 
 such short acquaintance? 
 
 Looking carefully through the saloon as 
 well as on deck and in the forecastle, I did not 
 find a single Russian on board who had either 
 dark eyes or a Roman nose. These features I 
 have found extremely rare in all companies of 
 Russians from any part of the Empire north of 
 the Caucasus. The thick, foreshortened, re- 
 trousse nose, and the gray colour of the eye, 
 so prevalent among the northern Russians, I 
 judge to be referable to their Gothic origin. 
 I think that I have not seen these features in 
 a single instance among the full-blooded Tar- 
 tars. 
 
 From what I have said of my fellow-travel- 
 lers it may easily be imagined that, with finer 
 weather, smoother water, and Korsakoffsk near 
 at hand, we became quite a genial party. 
 
 At luncheon on that third day, for the first 
 time since the superfluous dinner at starting, 
 every person took his place, and all seemed in- 
 clined to make amends for past delinquencies. 
 Nearly everybody's health was drunk, including 
 that of the Emperor, of the Queen of England, 
 and of the President of the United States; and 
 as for the rough voyage, nobody " had minded 
 
 48 
 
To Sakhalin 
 
 it a bit "; indeed, they had " quite enjoyed it! " 
 I was glad of this information. 
 
 Promenading the deck after luncheon with 
 one of the officers of the ship, I remarked on the 
 exceptional efficiency of the boatswain, and ex- 
 pressed my surprise at the excellence of the rest 
 of his crew in this distant region, where skilled 
 labour must be so hard to obtain. 
 
 He gave me a smile and a nudge which was 
 plainly an invitation to the other end of the 
 deck. When out of hearing, he said: 
 
 " You admired that boatswain of ours? 
 Well, you are quite right, he is the best man 
 on the ship worth at least three of any ordi- 
 nary seamen you might come across anywhere; 
 that is, if you know how to manage him. Like 
 nearly all the rest of the crew, that man is a 
 life convict. Of course we don't speak about 
 it, but at different times that peaceful-looking 
 chap has murdered no less than three men; yet 
 I never have any trouble with him, and a better 
 man for getting work out of the others under 
 him I don't want. 
 
 " You ask me why doesn't he run away? 
 And if he is a reliable and a safe man to have 
 about? Why not? The military guards always 
 on duty on the boat understand their duty; none 
 of these fellows can pass them. Besides, the 
 convicts know when they are well off. They 
 6 49 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 would a thousand times rather be here than be 
 wearing leg chains in one of the island prisons. 
 
 '' To be sure, the officials are very careful in 
 selecting men for this job. These hands have 
 all completed their good-conduct service, were 
 all seamen before, and this boatswain, indeed, 
 was actually an officer in the Russian Royal 
 Navy, so no wonder he knows his work, and 
 knows how to make the men under him do 
 theirs. 
 
 " You see, on board here they get first-rate 
 grub, they dress the same as free sailors do, 
 they get extra allowances besides, and if they 
 only don't think about it, they are just as well 
 off as they would be in freedom. I suppose 
 some of them, such chaps as the boatswain for 
 instance, must think about their condition some- 
 times it isn't in human nature not to but they 
 know that if they should try to do more than 
 think, the guard would shoot them down as 
 quick as a flash." 
 
 He started off to give some necessary direc- 
 tions to some of these men, but, having had a 
 capital luncheon and being in the most friendly 
 state possible, he suddenly turned on his heel 
 and added as a final remark: 
 
 " But then, don't you see, if these chaps had 
 been in your free and glorious country well, 
 then they wouldn't 'a' been here at all, would 
 50 
 
To Sakhalin 
 
 they? Ha, ha, ha! Don't you see-e-e under- 
 stand, eh? " This last remark was accompanied 
 by a gesture with his forefinger, which pointed 
 upward from under his ear. 
 
 All the afternoon the Sakhalin coast was 
 clearly in view, and its dreariness fully equalled 
 my expectation. Except for the lighthouse at 
 Cape Crillon, nothing came into view between 
 there and Korsakoffsk to suggest that any hu- 
 man being had been there before us. Wooded 
 hills extended all along the coast, and were very 
 monotonous. As in the Siberian ranges, the 
 conical peaks, so common in Japan, here no- 
 where diversified the sky-line. 
 
 It was announced that, as we should arrive 
 at Korsakofifsk before dark, dinner would be 
 ready at six, instead of at seven, for the conve- 
 nience of such as were going ashore. 
 
 As we were entering the beautiful bay of 
 Aniva, the Governor appeared on deck in full 
 uniform a governor every inch. Preparatory 
 to landing, nearly all the passengers came out, 
 wonderfully changed in appearance, for the 
 warm-hearted Governor had generously invited 
 them to go ashore as his guests during the two 
 or three hours the boat remained at Korsa- 
 koffsk. 
 
 With the impatience which is always shown 
 by passengers on a steamer when approaching 
 51 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 their port of destination, we made short work 
 of a really capital dinner. I suppose that no- 
 body felt more impatiently curious than my- 
 self. 
 
 Standing in a group of several persons, who, 
 with outstretched forefingers, were uttering 
 questions and exclamations of which the chief 
 were, "Where is Korsakoffsk? '^ "There!" 
 " I don't see it! " " Why, right there! " " Oh, 
 yes, I think I see it.'* " Oh, yes, as plainly as 
 possible! Thank you." " Oh, but you are look- 
 ing in the wrong direction! it's over yonder," 
 and so forth I descried more and more plainly 
 every minute what I must confess was rather 
 disappointing. 
 
 On the face of a pretty hill, flanked and 
 backed by other hills and mountains, appeared 
 a very broken line of unpainted wooden houses 
 running from near the beach straight up the hill, 
 at the top of which arose a large straggling 
 building with tower and flagstaff, from which 
 floated a flag that, reflecting the warm light of 
 the setting sun, stood out in very pretty relief 
 against the dark and thickly w^ooded mountain 
 behind it. This large building, I was informed, 
 was the prison. 
 
 Near the water's edge, farther to the right, 
 was a small group of shabby-looking buildings, 
 and in front of them a little rough-looking pier 
 52 
 
To Sakhalin 
 
 or landing made of piles, of the kind so familiar 
 to the traveller on American rivers and lakes. 
 
 The bay of Aniva afforded the only really 
 pleasing view we had seen that day. Korsa- 
 koffsk itself, however, appeared so forbidding 
 and dreary that, had I been travelling merely for 
 pleasure, I should have changed my mind about 
 landing at all. Outside of the little settlement 
 itself, look which way you would, there was not 
 the least sign of human habitation. On the bay 
 itself there was not a single sail or sign of human 
 interest. 
 
 When at last we came to the only safe an- 
 chorage, at least a mile from the pier, we could 
 see a number of military guards and considerable 
 movement at the landing. 
 
 The military guards of our steamer took up 
 their positions at both sides of the ship's gang- 
 ways. Ladders were lowered, and two boats 
 containing officers arrived alongside. They had 
 come to greet the returning Governor and to get 
 the only glimpse of the outside world which is 
 offered them by the occasional visits of the 
 Baikall. 
 
 The greetings, which commenced with a dig- 
 nified military salute, promptly lapsed into affec- 
 tionate huggings and kissings and the inevitable 
 drinking of healths. The officers perform this 
 ceremony so often that one wonders they have 
 53 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 any health left. Presently there approached 
 what looked like a man-of-war's barge with a 
 flag flying at the stern, all in the smartest, trim- 
 mest, most gallant style imaginable. 
 
 The moment the Governor-Colonel appeared 
 at the gangway the oarsmen, with caps off and 
 oars erect, came to attention and, led by their 
 cockswain, gave a prolonged and thundering 
 cheer, the words of it being " Tdraviya Zhalai- 
 hem vasha vesoko Blagorodiye! " or " Health 
 and service to your High Honour." 
 
 The Governor returned the salute with 
 " Tdorova," or " How does it do? " 
 
 Then all fell to business. The colonel's lug- 
 gage and my own were quickly transferred to a 
 
 boat alongside for the purpose. Captain L 
 
 marshalled the persons invited by the Governor 
 to go ashore, all of whom were shown to the 
 crimson cushions of his boat, the bottom of 
 which was also carpeted in the same colour. 
 
 As the Governor descended the ladder, the 
 oarsmen repeated their previous salute, which 
 was joined in by the sailors on the ship. 
 
 The instant the Governor and myself were 
 seated, the cockswain gave the word and every 
 
 oar was in motion. Captain L was the life 
 
 of the party, and the trip, though short, was ex- 
 hilarating, the effect being greatly enhanced by 
 the excellent form of our crew. The naval uni- 
 54 
 
To Sakhalin 
 
 form of the men was faultlessly smart in white 
 and blue, their stroke perfect ; while in physique 
 it would be hard to find a man-of-war's crew 
 which could surpass them. Yet, as I afterward 
 discovered, every man of this magnificent crew 
 was a murderer. 
 
 At the shabby, rickety little landing stage 
 the Governor was received by the guard there 
 with a salute which was much less demonstrative 
 than that of the sailors, and was strictly military, 
 as became soldiers of the Imperial Army. 
 
 The party was quickly transferred to the 
 droschkis which were awaiting our arrival, the 
 Governor, the captain, and myself getting into 
 the front one, which was the private droschki 
 of the Governor and was a close imitation of an 
 Irish jaunting car. 
 
 At the word " Pashol! " from the Governor, 
 his stalwart coachman, with a whip-crack like a 
 pistol shot, started his team at a gallop along 
 the short coast road, doubled the sharp corner 
 without slowing up in the least, and took us 
 whirling up the steep road which is the main 
 street of the settlement, in a style that nearly 
 landed me at the wrong place. As the hill rose 
 more and more steeply before us, the faster and 
 faster we went, until in the midst of a break- 
 neck gallop the foaming horses were halted as 
 suddenly as they had started. As we alighted 
 55 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 at the door I noticed that we had got so far 
 ahead of the other droschkis that not one of them 
 was in sight. 
 
 Without now suggesting that there are any 
 precautionary reasons for travelling at such 
 speed, I afterward found that this was the Gov- 
 ernor's habitual pace, and that his driver was 
 possessed with the idea that any speed short of 
 the fastest possible would be inconsistent with 
 the superior importance and dignity of his High 
 Honour, his master and Governor. 
 
 Every household on this street knows the 
 jingle of the Governor's droschki bells, and this 
 whirlwind-like entrance was a public announce- 
 ment to all and sundry within the homes that 
 his annual holiday in distant Siberia was over, 
 and that he had safely returned to them in Kor- 
 sakoffsk. 
 
 56 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE REPUTATION OF SAKHALIN 
 
 The exiles and convicts who are in the mines 
 and prisons towards the far-distant end of Sibe- 
 ria, and therefore nearest to SakhaHn, generally 
 come to be more and more aware of its proxim- 
 ity. At Irkutsk, Kara, Nertchinsk, Vladivostok, 
 or Nickolaivsk, if Prisoner 41, we will say, 
 would have No. 43 know that their missing com- 
 rade (42) had for some additional crime been at 
 last condemned to this much-dreaded country, 
 he might whisper that No. 42 had been sent 
 to "Ostrov Proklyatuick," the "Isle of the 
 Lost." 
 
 On my return to Europe I could not dis- 
 cover that any book in any language had been 
 written containing general information respect- 
 ing the ordinary life of officials, exiles, or con- 
 victs on this island, based upon its author's 
 actual experience. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Lansdell showed his usual love 
 for details by combining a number of facts about 
 the island with interesting statements which he 
 57 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 had obtained from persons who might be sup- 
 posed to know. In his book on Siberia, Mr. 
 George Kennan also introduced statements 
 about SakhaHn; but he says that he turned back 
 at Nertchinsk, which is over two thousand miles 
 from southern Sakhalin. One book on the Si- 
 berian question awakened pleasant anticipations 
 in my breast, its author stating that he had made 
 an exhaustive investigation respecting Sakhalin. 
 My hopes fell like the stick of a rocket, however, 
 when he added that this '' exhaustive investiga- 
 tion " was made at Irkutsk, and consisted of a 
 single interview with a Russian soldier he vciti 
 there en route from Sakhalin to Moscow, on the 
 completion of his term of military service on the 
 island. Once upon a time two merchants, a 
 Mr. Denbigh and a Mr. Emery, obtained cer- 
 tain mining and trading concessions, but I am 
 not aware that they have contributed anything 
 to the literature on Siberia. 
 
 As the result of my inquiries, not only in 
 Sakhalin itself, but in various parts of Russia as 
 well, I came to think that it is rather the policy 
 of the Russian Government to discourage any 
 definite information about Sakhalin from reach- 
 ing the Russian people; that it prefers to main- 
 tain the dreadful mysteriousness with which it is 
 enshrouded, in order that the fear and horror of 
 the place may have a deterrent and salutary 
 
 58 
 
The Reputation of Sakhalin 
 
 effect upon the criminally inclined throughout 
 the Empire. 
 
 In other countries, however, Sakhalin and its 
 convicts have been written about by several au- 
 thors without information at first hand. 
 
 In his book on Siberia and the Nihilists, 
 Mr. W. I. Armstrong remarks: "There is Httle 
 doubt that the punishment of convicts on Sak- 
 halin is greater than that inflicted at any formal 
 establishment in Siberia proper." 
 
 Respecting one of the forms of punishment 
 which he says is habitually practised there, he 
 remarks: " Those tied to rings receive from one 
 to two hundred strokes of the knout," while he 
 has this to impart regarding the treatment of 
 would-be runaways: ''The system of man-hunt- 
 ing is carried on so near the convicts' quarters 
 that many unfortunate exiles with no thought of 
 escaping fall victims within a stone's throw of 
 their barracks. . . . There is a reward of three 
 hundred roubles for every escaped convict, dead 
 or alive," and " the proof required is the severed 
 head of the convict, and, as they are all branded, 
 it is easy to decide against any mistake. . . . 
 At Nickolaivsk," which is the last overland sta- 
 tion en route to this place, " those who use a 
 wheel-barrow are chained to it, those who wield 
 a pick are chained to a rock beside their work," 
 and " nearly half the prisoners are insane." 
 59 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 Speaking of the treatment en route of such 
 prisoners as are sent direct to SakhaHn from 
 western Russia by the sea, Mr. Armstrong says: 
 " It was at this remote and awful SakhaHn (at 
 the atrocities of whose administration even the 
 NihiHsts would appear to have fallen short in 
 their descriptions) that the arrival of a convict 
 vessel filled with political and other prisoners in 
 1876 caused the press of the whole East to cry 
 out in horror of Russian barbarity. Aboard this 
 were several hundreds of prisoners confined in 
 iron cages to whose floors they were heavily 
 chained. These prisoners, such as had not died 
 and left their cages empty, had made in the fierc- 
 est heats of summer the whole journey of ten or 
 twelve thousand miles from Cronstadt through 
 the burning Mediterranean and Indian Seas to 
 their destination." 
 
 Prince Kropotkin, who appears to have been 
 in Siberia first as an official and afterward as an 
 exile, remarks respecting Sakhalin, on page 22 
 of his book In Russian and French Prisons: 
 " Few places in the Russian Empire are worse 
 than this island, therefore it is to Sakhalin that 
 the Russian Government sends now its hard- 
 labour exiles. ... In the meantime a new hell 
 worse than Atakni has been devised. Hard- 
 labour convicts are sent now to die on the Sak- 
 halin islands." 
 
 60 
 
The Reputation of Sakhalin 
 
 On page 202 he says: "There is in the 
 northern Pacific, close by the coasts of Russian 
 Manchuria, a wide island, one of the largest in 
 the world, but so out of the way of seafarers, so 
 wild and barren and so difificult of access, that, 
 until the last century, it was quite ignored and 
 considered as a mere appendix to the continent. 
 Few places in the Russian Empire are worse 
 than this island." 
 
 Other statements about Sakhalin in the same 
 book are: " Sakhalin ranks among the last in 
 the world for human habitation. . . . Little is 
 known about the condition of convicts on Sak- 
 halin itself. ... In 1879 a report appeared in 
 the Russian press, signed by a Russian mer- 
 chant, stating that the arbitrary conduct of the 
 chief commander at Sakhalin knew no limits. 
 The prison administration was accused of steal- 
 ing the last coppers of the convicts. . . ." 
 
 On page 220 we read that " a doctor, Mr. A. 
 
 A , wrote in October, 1880, from Alexan- 
 
 drovsk, * I am ordered to the KorsakofTsk hos- 
 pital on the south coast, but I cannot reach it 
 before next June. My colleague abandons his 
 post; he can no longer hear all that is going on 
 there ' significant words which permit a Rus- 
 sian reader to guess the truth, especially when 
 they are followed by these: * The chief of the 
 settlement seldom visits the barracks; he does 
 61 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 not appear otherwise than surrounded by armed 
 wardens. The Governor of the prison dare not 
 appear among the convicts.' . . . One of the 
 greatest inducements of Sakhalin in the eyes of 
 the administration was that escapes would be ex- 
 ceedingly difficult; this inducement surely ex- 
 ists. . . . Each prisoner captured in Siberia by 
 indigenes is valued at ten roubles when brought 
 back alive and five roubles when killed; three 
 roubles in the latter case, and six roubles in the 
 former, serve on Sakhalin to induce the shilyaks 
 to hunt the runaways. . . ." Page 223: " These 
 shilyaks came across twelve nonconformists with 
 infants in arms; they were all killed by the shil- 
 yaks." 
 
 So much for statements by popular authors. 
 An official report may, however, be deemed of 
 more value. In such a report made in 1882, 
 General Anuchin, Governor-General of eastern 
 Siberia, speaks of the gold mines of Kara, which 
 he says is altogether the most hated and dreaded 
 spot in Siberia. He compares Sakhalin with it 
 in these terms: 
 
 " Penal servitude on the island of Sakhalin 
 is organized in the same way as at Kara; but the 
 work at the former place is much harder, and 
 the place itself is wilder and more solitary. 
 This, with the prospect of remaining on a distant 
 island as a settler after the completion of a term 
 62 
 
The Reputation of Sakhalin 
 
 of hard labour, makes the lot of a Sakhalin con- 
 vict a very hard one, and one that corresponds 
 much more nearly with the punishment which 
 the law has in view." 
 
 Under this report the Emperor of Russia is 
 said to have written, " A Melancholy Picture." 
 
 It is one thing to put exiles into Siberia, it 
 is another thing to hold them there. It is a very 
 common impression that all, or nearly all, the 
 exiles in Siberia are confined in prisons there. 
 This is a great mistake. By far the larger pro- 
 portion of the whole number of exiles and con- 
 victs in Siberia are on " ticket of leave " or con- 
 ditional release. 
 
 Of the vagrant class the larger number sent 
 to Siberia are released on this system almost as 
 soon as they reach the place to which they are 
 consigned. 
 
 Criminal and political convicts, on the con- 
 trary, are not released until after at least two 
 years or more of probation, during which time 
 they must pass their nights in prison. If suffi- 
 ciently politic, almost any criminal whatever can 
 obtain release sooner or later. From these 
 *' Free Convicts," as they are called, come the 
 " Brodyags " or " Runaways " who infest and 
 sometimes terrorize the country. Of these it is 
 the political exiles, and the more clever and dan- 
 gerous of the criminals those, indeed, against 
 
 63 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 whom the Government is most anxious to pro- 
 tect society who are most successful in manag- 
 ing to return to it. 
 
 It was to correct this condition of things that 
 Sakhalin was selected as an island prison which 
 should be absolutely secure. 
 
 Political exiles, who for a long time were 
 exempt from deportation to Sakhalin, and who 
 by many are still supposed to enjoy that immu- 
 nity, came at last to be sent there with other 
 incorrigibles of the " Brodyag " class. For 
 proof on this point the following ofBcial com- 
 munication may sufifice: 
 
 "Ministry of the Interior, 
 
 "Chief Prison Administration No. 2926, 
 " St. Petersburg, March /, 1888. 
 
 " To the Governor of the Island of Sakhalin. 
 
 "Your High Excellency: On the Nijni 
 
 Novgorod, of the Volunteer Fleet, which is to 
 
 sail from the Port of Odessa on the 20th of 
 
 March, 1888, there is a party of five hundred 
 
 and twenty-five convicts banished to the island 
 
 of Sakhalin. Among these prisoners banished to 
 
 penal servitude are the political oiTenders Vas- 
 
 silli Volunof, Sergei Kuzin, Ivan Meisner, and 
 
 Stanilaus Khrenofski. In notifying you of this 
 
 fact, the chief prison administration has the 
 
 honour respectfully to request that you make 
 
 arrangements to confine these political offenders 
 
 64 
 
The Reputation of Sakhalin 
 
 not in a separate group by themselves, but in the 
 cells of other (common criminal) convicts. In 
 making the arrangements for confining these 
 criminals in prison and employing them in work, 
 no distinction whatever must be made between 
 them and other criminals, except in the mat- 
 ter of surveillance, which must be of the strict- 
 est character. Neither must any difference be 
 made between them and other convicts in re- 
 spect to punishments inflicted for violations 
 of prison discipline. You will not fail to in- 
 form the chief prison administration of the 
 manner in which the above political offend- 
 ers are distributed on the island of Sakhalin, 
 and to forward reports in regard to their be- 
 haviour. 
 
 " [Signed] M. Galkine Wrasskoy, 
 
 ''^ Director of the Chief Prison Administration''' 
 
 It is said, though I have not seen the original 
 authority for the statement, that not long after 
 their arrival two of these poHtical offenders, 
 Vassilli Volunof and Ivan Meisner, in pursuance 
 of these directions and for what is alleged to 
 have been only a minor offence namely, de- 
 clining to show the usual form of respect exact- 
 ed by rule from all prisoners towards the prison 
 officials underwent the punishment and degra- 
 dation of flogging, just as would have been in- 
 7 65 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 flicted upon any ordinary criminal convict under 
 similar circumstances. 
 
 From among a number of statements re- 
 cently published in English newspapers respect- 
 ing Sakhalin, here is an extract from an article 
 in the Sun of July 25, 1893: 
 
 '' According to an east Siberian paper 
 (which would presumably not be allowed to con- 
 coct such a story), so terrible a state of affairs 
 has prevailed on the island of Sakhalin that the 
 Governor had recently to interfere for the pro- 
 tection of prisoners against minor prison ofifi- 
 cials. A number of the former are stated to 
 have deliberately maimed themselves in order 
 to get free of certain cruel warders. Others 
 fled into the impenetrable forests, where they 
 suffered all the horrors of hunger. In a satchel 
 belonging to a fugitive convict who had been 
 hunted down were found some pieces of human 
 flesh; and other cases of cannibalism have been 
 reported." 
 
 Another, from the London Standard for July, 
 1895, said: 
 
 " St. Petersburg, Friday Night. 
 
 " Vague rumours of the unsatisfactory state 
 of the convict prison of Onor, on the island of 
 Sakhalin, having reached St. Petersburg, a Gov- 
 ernment Commission was instituted some time 
 ago to inquire into the matter. The report is 
 66 
 
The Reputation of Sakhalin 
 
 now to hand, and reveals a terrible tale of suffer- 
 ing and crime. Instances without number are 
 recorded of merciless beatings and lopping off 
 of fingers and arms by sabre cuts. While canni- 
 balism, under stress of famine, is a common 
 occurrence, murder followed by cannibalism 
 is also frequently committed with the sole ob- 
 ject of putting an end to the misery of exist- 
 ence at Onor. And instances are related where 
 several convicts disputed before the authorities 
 for the guilt of a murder. 
 
 '' During the whole of 1892 there was an al- 
 most continuous string of convoys with corpses 
 of convicts passing from Onor to Rykovskaya, 
 the residence of the authorities, and the bodies 
 were so mutilated, and presented so pitiful a 
 spectacle, that the report says the spectators 
 could not look upon them without tears. No 
 inquiries, however, were made, and the bodies 
 were simply buried without further ado. Nei- 
 ther of the two doctors living at Rykovskaya 
 ever visited Onor. In 1893 a band of convicts 
 was handed over to an inspector, who could 
 neither read nor write, to construct a road 
 from Onor to Rykovskaya. If any convict 
 failed in his work, he was at once put on half- 
 rations the next day, followed by a third of ra- 
 tions, and when he could work no more the 
 inspector finished him with a revolver bullet, 
 
 67 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 and entered his death in the books as from dis- 
 ease. 
 
 " The principal author and encourager of all 
 these atrocities is the convict Rhakofif, who is a 
 favourite of the commandant of the district, and 
 has been made inspector-general. He has lately 
 been recommended for good service, and he and 
 all his colleagues have succeeded hitherto in 
 keeping their misdeeds secret from the world. 
 The above details are not, it must be noted, "a 
 convict's tale, but are taken from an official Gov- 
 ernment report." 
 
 From the quotations given I think it will 
 be seen that, if the worst cruelties in Siberia 
 proper be added together, they still fall short of 
 the reputation of Sakhalin. 
 
 As my residence on the island was chiefly 
 in that part of it which was the most notorious, 
 which is, indeed, the most distant penal settle- 
 ment in the whole Russian Empire, and was 
 within the worst period of its history, my own 
 personal experience there may possess some in- 
 terest. 
 
 68 
 
CHAPTER V . 
 
 KORSAKOFFSK WAYS 
 
 At the house of the Governor of Korsa- 
 
 koffsk Prison, Madame S , his good wife, 
 
 and a number of officers, miUtary and civil, were 
 waiting to receive him; and this they did with 
 all the boisterous and reckless affection which 
 Russians allow themselves everywhere, but 
 which only at the more distant stations in and 
 beyond Siberia rises to the highest level of un- 
 restraint. 
 
 Closely following us, came pouring in the 
 guests the Governor had invited from the Bai- 
 kall, between whom and the household Captain 
 L acted as master of ceremonies. His man- 
 ner of introducing everybody to everybody else 
 seemed to say, " Now, gentlemen, the Baikall 
 waits for nobody ^weVe only an hour before us, 
 so make the most of your time and don't lose 
 a moment a short life and a merry one's the 
 word. So here's to your healths, ladies and gen- 
 tlemen, let us all be happy! " 
 
 A Manchester engineer pulling the lever in 
 
 69 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 a cotton-mill couldn't have been more successful 
 in starting a general clatter than the captain was. 
 Darting about in every direction he distributed 
 stimulating and lubricating liquids. Tongues 
 moved as swiftly and noisily as shuttles. 
 Whether in Russian, German, or French, I took 
 it for granted that the person talking to me 
 could himself hear what he said, even if I could 
 not, so I smiled approvingly, interposed occa- 
 sionally an agreeable Russian monosyllable at 
 what I judged to be appropriate moments, but 
 chiefly listened. To my amusement I afterward 
 learned that I was a '' charming conversational- 
 ist " and " so very intelHgent." 
 
 Too various to enumerate were the refresh- 
 ments which were displayed upon a side-table, 
 on one end of which was the merry and inevi- 
 table samovar, and at the other, as a rival attrac- 
 tion, a small army of little glasses and numerous 
 bottles. As there were no servants present, we 
 all helped ourselves and each other to what we 
 liked best, and to a degree which excited my 
 apprehension. 
 
 Among the many groups in which the com- 
 pany now seemed to divide, by far the largest 
 seemed to consist entirely of resident officials. 
 Of this group the Governor was the centre. 
 With marked and growing excitement they were 
 all listening to an officer who had but just en- 
 70 
 
Korsakoffsk Ways 
 
 tered the room and in great haste had made his 
 way direct to the Governor, as if on business of 
 sudden importance. I noticed that there was a 
 great commotion among them, as if the newly 
 arrived officer had brought some very alarming 
 information. With one member of this group, 
 who was in the medical service, I had just before 
 had a very cordial conversation, so, as they be- 
 gan to separate, I gave him an opportunity of 
 enlightening me on the point which had so ab- 
 sorbed their attention. Taking me by the arm 
 and leading me to a quiet, dark corner of the 
 veranda, he said in a confidential tone, '' Now, 
 you mustn't appear to know a word about this. 
 It is a great secret. It has just been discovered 
 that five of our very worst convicts, all guilty of 
 repeated local murders, have escaped from the 
 prison. They are the most incorrigible assas- 
 sins, and wouldn't hesitate at anything. You 
 see, they have nothing to lose, and perhaps 
 everything to gain, as they may think, so it is 
 impossible to say what desperate thing they may 
 not attempt. Not the slightest trace has been 
 found of them, and of course no person or build- 
 ing is safe so long as these ruffians are at large. 
 
 '' They can conceal themselves separately in 
 
 the forests by day, and at night may combine, 
 
 set fire to the prison, the Governor's house or 
 
 the store-houses, or in the darkness murder 
 
 71 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 whoever they can. Unfortunately these people 
 know that if they fail and are caught, the worst 
 punishment the law allows us to give them in 
 Sakhalin is simply a flogging. You see, it's un- 
 comfortable for all of us, and the worst of it for 
 me is, that I am the last officer who went 
 through their Kamera before they were missed. 
 I observed no trace of their intention, although 
 they must have been working away at their min- 
 ing preparations for several days. It is evident 
 that there is a widespread conspiracy, and God 
 only knows what may happen even before this 
 night is over." 
 
 Just then the dining-room doors were slid 
 back, revealing to my astonishment a long table 
 surrounded by closely set chairs, with indications 
 of a formal dinner for the party I thought so 
 surfeited. 
 
 The other guests, who had previously dined 
 with me on the steamer, did not seem to share 
 my surprise in the slightest, so I tried to con- 
 ceal it, and, as everybody squeezed into the first 
 chair he came to, the doctor and I sat down 
 together. He seemed to feel a wonderful inter- 
 est and delight in meeting a confrere from such 
 distant regions, and as he also had pursued part 
 of his studies at the Allgemeines Krankenhaus 
 in Vienna, we had a good many reminiscences of 
 mutual interest. 
 
 72 
 
Korsakoffsk Ways 
 
 He had just been relieved of his duties as 
 Medical Officer of the Prison, and was to start 
 for Alexandrovsk that very night on the Baikal!, 
 so the present occasion was his last and final 
 farewell to Korsakoffsk, where he was so evi- 
 dently popular. He was just the man above all 
 others who was able to tell me what I most 
 wanted to know, but about which Iwas least 
 inclined to ask other and less communicative 
 officers. I learned from him a great many 
 things which were invaluable as guides in my 
 subsequent investigations. He begged me to 
 go on with him to Alexandrovsk, or to come 
 later and be his guest till the end of the summer, 
 as he had no family and was sadly in want of 
 company. 
 
 The end of the numerous courses at this our 
 third dinner was not reached till about eleven 
 o'clock, after which my friends Tartsoff and 
 Schouvaloff, in a further conversation, promised 
 
 that they would speak to General K about 
 
 me, and would insure me a hearty reception by 
 him if I should subsequently visit Alexandrovsk. 
 
 As there was no second story to the Gover- 
 nor's house, and all the doors but one were 
 thrown open, I inferred that his bed-room was 
 the only one in the building. I expressed my 
 fears of incommoding the household by my visit, 
 
 to our universal friend. Captain L , but he 
 
 73 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 told me to be entirely easy on that point that 
 the Governor intended me to have the Jarge 
 room occupying the entire street frontage of the 
 house. After the guests of the evening had 
 gone, a cot and all that I might require would 
 be arranged for me, while my heavier luggage 
 could remain accessible in the large entrance hall 
 just outside. I was evidently to be treated like a 
 prince, and was expected to stay till the end of 
 the summer. 
 
 From the Baikall was now heard a shrill, pro- 
 longed whistle, which the cunning captain had 
 preconcerted should not be blown till midnight, 
 instead of at ten o'clock, as had been announced. 
 Though the whistle caused considerable flurry 
 among the guests, it was even then in reality 
 only the signal and excuse for another health- 
 drinking. In ten minutes another whistle 
 sounded, and about five minutes later came 
 three whistles in succession, each of which was 
 more prolonged than either of the previous ones. 
 This was really the last and final notice thai the 
 steamer was ready to start. The droschkis wait- 
 ing at the door were rapidly filled with the mer- 
 ry throng, the Governor himself accompanying 
 them to the pier. 
 
 This was the first opportunity I had for any- 
 thing like a chat with my future hostess, who, 
 knowing that the other guests would remain 
 74 
 
KorsakoiFsk Ways 
 
 but a short time, had very properly given them 
 her chief attention. Little was the time she 
 had had to talk even to them, indeed, for this 
 sudden inrush of visitors had been entirely a 
 surprise to her. She had not even had the 
 slightest intimation of the time of the arrival of 
 the Baikall. However, she had extemporized 
 her lavish entertainment, had presided at the din- 
 ner-table, had led the dance with the captain, 
 and . had taken her turn at the piano, playing 
 waltzes and sonatas at intervals with equal finish 
 of execution. 
 
 I need scarcely say, perhaps, that bed-rooms, 
 as such, are not a sacred institution in the Eng- 
 lish and American sense in any part of Russia, 
 much less in Siberia and beyond. It was not at 
 all surprising to me, therefore, when, on the re- 
 turn of the Governor, the clumsy maid dragged 
 a cot into the front room, which was the high- 
 way to all the other apartments in the house, and 
 proceeded to make up my bed there, quickly 
 converting one of the corners of it into a sleep- 
 ing place with the further aid of certain portable 
 items. 
 
 As we were all tired out, I bade Madame 
 
 S good-night with but very little ceremony, 
 
 and was shown to my corner by the Governor. 
 
 Just as I had begun to undress, he returned 
 to my room, and without the slightest explana- 
 
 75 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 tion, with a half-apologetic and good-natured 
 smile, 'Showed me the working of a large re- 
 volver, and, putting it at half-cock, placed it 
 under my pillow. Then, stepping to a rack in 
 the entrance hall, he brought me a walking- 
 stick, shaped like a battle-axe, made of a beau- 
 tifully polished solid piece of steel. This he 
 placed ready to hand at the right side of my 
 cot, whereupon, having seen that my matches 
 and candle were in good order, he impressed 
 upon me that, whatever happened, I must in no 
 case whatever open a window. With a cheerful 
 " bonne nuit " he left me to my own reflections. 
 
 The strangeness of everything, the sudden 
 contrast with the previous boisterous jollity of 
 the evening, was very impressive now that I was 
 left all alone. 
 
 " Well," thought I, " this ought to suit me. 
 It's so very disagreeable, and then it's so un- 
 usual. The Baikall's gone, and in any case, 
 whatever's coming, I'm in for it. I wanted a new 
 sensation and I've got it. Yes, after all I rather 
 like it, and I am glad I came." Saying this 
 aloud, just for company, I blew out the candle, 
 and turned over with a violent determination to 
 go right to sleep. I think that I had almost suc- 
 ceeded in this, but the next thing I was quite 
 sure of, was a pattering sound of feet, of mufifled 
 voices, and of what seemed like an occasional 
 
 76 
 
KorsakofFsk Ways 
 
 clank, clank, as of a heavy chain near one of my 
 windows. The clank sounded as if it had oc- 
 curred by accident; the other noises I thought 
 were being carefully repressed. The secret the 
 doctor had confided to me, with the parting pre- 
 cautions of the Governor, at once flashed before 
 my mind, and in an instant I struck a light to let 
 the rascals know that we were ready for action. 
 
 The length of my room, as already stated, 
 took in nearly the whole width of the house, 
 and its height extended to the roof. The ceil- 
 ing, like the walls, was simply made of unsea- 
 soned pine-boards; the floor as rough as if it had 
 been trodden by horses. The day had been an 
 unusually warm one, and, the house being nearly 
 new, the resinous odour from new and oozing 
 pine-boards was most suffocating. 
 
 About half-past two I became aware that I 
 must have fallen asleep. For at that hour, in the 
 blackest of darkness, I was startled by I knew 
 not what. Intently listening, I could hear sup- 
 pressed voices just outside my window, and, as 
 before, an occasional clank as of a convict's 
 chain. As I ran my ear along the wall, I heard 
 a crackling sound, but could not tell whether it 
 was from fire or the crushing of light sticks and 
 stubble under heavy feet. 
 
 I was not going to be simple enough to dis- 
 turb the Governor by what might be a foolish 
 77 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 alarm, so I simply lighted a cigarette and await- 
 ed events. After a while, as none was forthcom- 
 ing, I made my way into the front hall, and 
 thence into the vestibule, where, through the 
 little windows on either side the heavily barred 
 front door, I could just discover right across 
 the road a military sentinel. It afterward trans- 
 pired that these various alarms had come sim- 
 ply from the guard making the usual relief; the 
 clank had been from the sabre of a subaltern in 
 command. 
 
 Early in the morning, a male domestic en- 
 tered my room without knocking, and with a 
 great deal of unnecessary noise and clatter un- 
 fastened the heavily barred shutters, but, con- 
 sistently with Russian notions of ventilation, he 
 never ventured to open one of the windows. He 
 was a murderer. 
 
 About eight o'clock, a repulsive female serv- 
 ant crept stealthily to the side of my bed, bring- 
 ing the usual morning cup of tea, and then with- 
 out a word slid out again. She was a mur- 
 deress. 
 
 After such a weird and gloomy night, the 
 bright sunshine, as it poured into my room, 
 gave me new life, and awakened an impatient 
 desire to reconnoitre my strange and mysterious 
 surroundings. By the help of my toy wash- 
 basin, which, like all imported articles in Siberia, 
 
 78 
 
Korsakoffsk Ways 
 
 except Huntley &, Palmer's biscuits, was either 
 French or German, I managed to give myself a 
 Russian wipe. I then dressed, and took a gen- 
 eral look about the premises. 
 
 From the street, entrance to the other two 
 rooms in the Governor's one-storied house or 
 bungalow could only be gained through my 
 apartment, which was evidently the general re- 
 ception-room. 
 
 A large and very elegant inlaid desk, appar- 
 ently in constant official use, as well as other 
 equally elegant articles of furniture, contrasted 
 strangely with the bare board walls and rough 
 floor of this spacious hall. This beautiful furni- 
 ture, I afterward found, like all the rest of it in 
 the house, except the mirrors of which Russians 
 are so fond, hM been made by skilled exiles and 
 convicts in the cabinet department of the prison 
 directly opposite. 
 
 In this same room, on a little book-shelf 
 hard to reach, were several dusty books, num- 
 bering in all perhaps a couple of dozen. Some 
 were French, some were German; there were 
 also five volumes of the Tauchnitz edition, three 
 being by Thackeray and two by Dickens, but 
 they all had the appearance of being neglected 
 souvenirs of the school days of long ago, sug- 
 gestive of a past and distant home life probably 
 not far from St. Petersburg. 
 
 79 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 As the Governor, in urging upon me this 
 visit, had particularly emphasized the pleasure 
 his wife would have in practising upon me her 
 rusty English, I inferred, and rightly, that she 
 had been the only reader of these sadly tattered- 
 looking books. Indeed, I found nobody else in 
 the place who would have pretended to be able 
 to read them. 
 
 The back part of the house had a very spa- 
 cious uncovered piazza, with steps to the garden, 
 which contained a few wild flowers, and also a 
 few currant- and gooseberry-bushes, but with 
 no fruit upon them fit to eat. None of the flow- 
 ers had any perfume, but their growth was so 
 luxuriant that the principal work of the gardener 
 was not cultivating them, but thinning them and 
 keeping them within their prope? bounds. 
 
 In a corner of the garden, close beside the 
 house, was an extemporized tent or summer- 
 house. This was used as a dining-room and as 
 the general rendezvous on all occasions. 
 
 Observing the samovar steaming inside the 
 tent, I limited my stroll to its immediate vicin- 
 ity, and at about half-past nine was met by the 
 Governor, who came down the steps rubbing his 
 eyes and giving me a soldier's hearty greeting. 
 
 Madame S quickly followed, and as we 
 
 sat down in the fresh morning air to a delicious 
 
 al fresco breakfast, weird memories of the night 
 
 80 
 
Korsakoffsk Ways 
 
 quickly vanished. I felt some interest in this 
 meeting, as it was my initiation into the Uttle 
 family circle of which I was now to be a mem- 
 ber. My first act at table was a grave and un- 
 fortunate blunder. 
 
 Madame S was reaching out for an egg. 
 
 Seeing this, I took up a salt-cellar to pass across 
 the table to her. With a quick movement she 
 warded off my intention, crossed herself, and 
 looked not only astonished but alarmed. " Do 
 you not know," she asked, '' how extremely un- 
 lucky it is to pass the salt to any one across the 
 table?" 
 
 The dishes were brought on by another re- 
 pulsive-looking domestic, resembling the one 
 who had brought me my early tea. She also, I 
 found, was a murderess. My hostess informed 
 me that she was observing a church fast, which 
 had continued two weeks, but would come to 
 an end at noon on the following day, Sunday. 
 She took this occasion to express very cordially 
 her delight at my coming, and assured me that 
 it would be such a pleasure and unprecedented 
 break in the monotony of Korsakoffsk, that the 
 whole settlement would be grateful to me for my 
 visit. 
 
 Now came a little official incident, strikingly 
 
 characteristic. Directly Madame S had left 
 
 ^ 8l 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 the table, an official approached with a military 
 salute, although otherwise he did not give me 
 the impression of being an officer. His aspect 
 was exceedingly forbidding, and this effect was 
 further enhanced by the fact that he wore con- 
 spicuously a pistol in his belt, had a huge short- 
 handled, iron-knobbed whip in his hand, and 
 was closely attended by a tremendously large, 
 savage-looking dog. The animal was something 
 between a boar-hound and an English mastiff, 
 and between its face and that of its master there 
 was considerable resemblance. This man was 
 one of the overseers, come to make to the Gov- 
 ernor his usual morning report. 
 
 As this was the man's first official interview 
 with his superior since his return, there were a 
 great many questions, answers, and discussions, 
 and at times both of them became a good deal 
 excited. This was especially the case when the 
 topic of the escape and plans for the capture of 
 the five prisoners who had so securely got away 
 into the forest was reached. 
 
 The Governor seemed to think that if he had 
 been at home the event would not have hap- 
 pened at all, and, as this overseer was at the time 
 in command of the prison, he was roundly be- 
 rated. 
 
 The history of this officer was that of many 
 other overseers, and every one of his features 
 
 S2 
 
Korsakoffsk Ways 
 
 told the story. I found that he had special rea- 
 sons for alarm over this incident, because, pre- 
 vious to its occurrence, he had almost daily been 
 expecting promotion. 
 
 Every successful escape from a Siberian 
 prison has to be strictly reported all the way up 
 to the Administration in Chief at St. Peters- 
 burg; such an event affects the record of every 
 official, from the lowest to the highest, within 
 whose jurisdiction the escape occurs; and it is 
 looked upon as scarcely less of a crime in the 
 officials in whose command it happens than in 
 the prisoners who perpetrate it. Few things can 
 happen in the career of any official which are so 
 sure to retard his promotion. Hence, in the mo- 
 mentary chagrin and irritation, mutual recrimi- 
 nation was prevalent. 
 
 A warder who now approached was gruffiy 
 halted by the Governor until the interview was 
 ended. He then came forward, presenting a 
 basin of soup. The Governor hastily inspected 
 it, tasted it, passed it to me, and made a sign to 
 the warder, who immediately retreated. 
 
 This was the prison soup for the day, which 
 was never served out until thus tested. A 
 specimen loaf of black bread also accompanied 
 it. This testing of the daily bread and soup, and 
 receiving the report of the chief overseer, I 
 found to be a part of the Governor's daily rou- 
 
 83 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 tine, always attended to at the breakfast-table. 
 The bread was the same as that supplied to our 
 own table and to that of all the officers. 
 
 One of the multifarious functions of the 
 Governor was that of Chief of the Post and 
 Telegraph Departments. He had the right to 
 examine, and generally did examine, every let- 
 ter, package, or telegram going or coming. In 
 the case of exiles or convicts, this right became 
 a duty, and the task was not a light one. 
 
 This inspection was reserved chiefly for odd 
 times and rainy days. As I was under no more 
 restraint in this matter than in any other, I 
 learned much which I am bound to regard as 
 confidential. 
 
 I am, however, free to remark that if any 
 novelist in want of a subject or a plot should 
 get hold of a single heap of the exiles' letters 
 he might find enough to last him the rest of 
 his life. 
 
 In one corner of my room was a heap of let- 
 ters, opened, but condemned never to be deliv- 
 ered. Imagine the trouble and thought it had 
 taken to get any one of those letters written, the 
 anxious hopes which by day and by night had 
 followed them on their way. A skeleton in that 
 corner, with its always cynical grin, would have 
 been a cheerful object compared with this heap 
 of dead hopes, with its constant and pathetic 
 
 84 
 
Korsakoffsk Ways 
 
 suggestiveness. I took the liberty of covering 
 them with a table-cloth, which entirely con- 
 cealed them, remarking to the Governor that it 
 would '' keep the dust from them." 
 
 To what extent this espionage is practised 
 upon the communications of minor ofBcials and 
 their wives, I could not exactly say, but I know 
 this: it is always part of the routine of a penal 
 settlement, and adds one more to the many 
 items which make the lives of the officials them- 
 selves and of all concerned unenviable. 
 
 After breakfast the Governor, in faultless 
 uniform, left for the police court, of which he 
 was president, and I was left to stroll about 
 wherever I liked and to amuse myself in my own 
 way until dinner-time. 
 
 To avoid causing my hostess inconvenience 
 by any want of punctuality, I asked her before 
 starting what was the usual dinner-hour. With 
 a merry laugh she made a reply which I thought 
 both amusing and significant. " In KorsakofTsk 
 time is not very important. We usually sit down 
 to dinner punctually at half-past one, or at two, 
 or about three o'clock, or we may have dinner 
 several times during the day, all just as it 
 happens. Perhaps to-day you had better be 
 back about two o'clock." I afterward found 
 that she had stated the case most accurately. 
 
 85 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 With my tether so long and so loose, my 
 temptation was to make straight for the prison 
 and, as is my wont in strange places, to worm 
 my way without hesitation into every nook and 
 cranny not usually seen by casual or foreign vis- 
 itors. I decided that my wisest course, however, 
 would be to avoid carefully even the slightest 
 display of curiosity. I would neither pry nor 
 inquire into anything of an oflficial nature, but 
 quietly bide my time and let things come to me 
 in their ordinary and inevitable course. 
 
 The settlement of Korsakoffsk, though hav- 
 ing the main features common to all small Si- 
 berian towns, is in almost every respect decided- 
 ly superior to the larger number of them. 
 
 Its situation is picturesque, healthful, and ro- 
 mantic. Its main street is a steady ascent up the 
 middle line of a hill from the sea front at its 
 base to its summit. The street is flanked on one 
 side by a deep gorge, and on the other by a 
 pretty but narrow valley. Beyond these, on 
 either side, rise other hills higher and higher in 
 succession. Beyond the apex of the hill which 
 the street ascends are lofty mountains forming 
 an amphitheatre, in the centre of which nestles 
 Korsakoffsk, every part of it looking down upon 
 the splendid Aniva Bay. 
 
 On ascending the main street, on the right 
 and left are two buildings of considerable archi- 
 
 86 
 
Korsakoffsk Ways 
 
 tectural pretension of the strictly Russian type. 
 They are the offices of the PoHce and of the Gen- 
 eral Administration. Farther up are the church, 
 and the houses of various officials. Overlook- 
 ing all the others, within its large garden in- 
 closure, is the residence of the Governor, which 
 also commands an unbroken view of the magnifi- 
 cent bay. 
 
 On the left side of the corresponding part of 
 the street runs a long line of blank and dreary- 
 looking buildings, which might be taken for 
 warehouses. Their many windows, which are 
 high up in tJje walls, are thickly crossed with 
 iron bars. Continuous with these, and exactly 
 opposite the house of the Governor, is a long, 
 somewhat lower building in front of which is a 
 raised sidewalk with sentry-boxes at each end, 
 between which sentinels are pacing. 
 
 In front of this platform is a formidable array 
 of cannon with stacks of arms between them. 
 Just beyond is a huge, handsome, and imposing 
 gate-way, with a little door within the massive 
 gates at which two sentries are standing. Be- 
 yond this again, and continuous with it at a right 
 angle, runs a huge stockade, from within which 
 a watch-tower rises with fine effect from the 
 highest point of the hill-crest, which for 'many 
 acres beyond and to the left is similarly in- 
 closed. 
 
 87 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 All these long lines of buildings inclosing 
 the entire crest of the hill form the prison, the 
 imposing gate-way I have described forming its 
 main entrance. This, with the guard-house be- 
 side it, is just opposite the house of the Gov- 
 ernor. 
 
 I was glad to find that from a sanitary and 
 aesthetic point of view the exercise grounds and 
 other open areas within the prison occupy the 
 choicest spot in the whole settlement, and have 
 the finest outlook to be found in that beautiful 
 region. 
 
 On a cross-street, about hali-way up the 
 main street to the left, in line with the lower 
 part of the prison, is the hospital. On the same 
 side of the hill are the military barracks and 
 parade-ground, also the separate bath-houses, 
 for prisoners, for soldiers, and for the officials 
 respectively. 
 
 On the acclivity just across the valley to the 
 left are the houses of most of the military and 
 other officers. The smaller houses with their 
 little gardens all along the valley on either side 
 northward, as also the smaller buildings dotting 
 the hill in every direction, in their own private 
 gardens, are the private homes of exiles and 
 other free convicts. 
 
 Excepting only the chimneys, all the houses 
 are built of wood, which in its natural state as- 
 88 
 
Korsakoffsk Ways 
 
 sumes a sombre tint, giving to the settlement 
 an aspect of monotonous gloom. This effect 
 is deepened by the fact that the street-fronts of 
 the houses are blank, the entrances being on 
 the side. Neither on my first stroll, nor at any 
 time, except on a Sunday, have I ever seen on 
 the street more than three persons, and of these 
 not one would be a woman. 
 
 The bay, visible from every point, though 
 in itself magnificent, has upon its broad ex- 
 panse not a single sail or boat, nor any sign of 
 human life. 
 
 To this solitude, I judged, the cordiality of 
 my reception might be partly due. The chief 
 difference, apparently, between the officials and 
 the convicts was that between being assigned 
 and being committed. 
 
 Punctually, as madame had indicated to me, 
 we sat down to dinner somewhere about half- 
 past one or half-past two, to the bewildering 
 succession of courses which constitute a Russian 
 dinner. In the evening, still more behind the 
 time appointed, madame came to me in the 
 garden with many apologies for the lateness of 
 the supper. It being Saturday evening, and es- 
 pecially a fast-time, she had been obliged to go 
 to church, and, as this was also the last day for 
 the confession which was indispensable to to- 
 morrow's communion, the service had been an 
 
 89 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 unusually long one. This Saturday evening serv- 
 ice was an interesting reminder that the Greek 
 Church, like the Abyssinian, and unlike some 
 more modern sects, holds to the continued 
 validity of the whole decalogue, not excluding 
 the fourth commandment, the observance of 
 which is so much emphasized in the Scripture 
 context. In the same connection it was a very 
 noticeable fact that the evening of Saturday was 
 the only one on which no visitors called. 
 
 When smoking on the veranda at sunset, 
 I gradually became aware of what seemed dis- 
 tant music ebbing and flowing on the still 
 evening air from some part of the hillside be- 
 low us. 
 
 It is unnecessary to remark to those who 
 have been in Russia that in the solemn and 
 effective rendering of sacred music, which is ex- 
 clusively vocal, the Russians are altogether un- 
 equalled. Madame S explained to me that 
 
 the music we heard was from the parade-ground. 
 In the Russian Army, as in the Russian Navy, 
 at the close of evening parade a regimental 
 choir, which here takes the place of a regimental 
 band, leads the entire command in a choral 
 rendering of the Lord's Prayer, and sometimes 
 of other parts of the Greek liturgy. In the Ger- 
 man Navy I have observed a somewhat similar 
 custom. This was done not only on Saturday 
 90 
 
Korsakoffsk Ways 
 
 night and Sunday night, but on every evening 
 throughout the week. The service occurring 
 just after our supper, it became one of the regu- 
 lar events to which I looked forward with ever- 
 increasing pleasure. 
 
 91 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 MY FIRST SUNDAY IN KORSAKOFFSK 
 
 On my first Sunday in Korsakoffsk, I found 
 breakfast on the table earlier than before, but, 
 excepting myself, nobody sat down to it. This 
 abstinence on the part of the household I found 
 to be preparatory to the communion, which was 
 to form part of the service that morning. 
 
 Just as the last and most vigorous of the 
 three preliminary bell-ringings from the church 
 
 commenced, Madame S hurriedly excused 
 
 herself and hastened to the church, followed 
 soon after by the Governor, who left me to fol- 
 low on at my leisure, if so inclined. 
 
 The brilliant sunshine, the bright and beau- 
 tiful colours of the wild flowers overrunning the 
 garden, the flashing, sparkling surface of the sea 
 beyond, and the spotless blue of the sky, sug- 
 gested to my mind such grateful aspiration to 
 their Giver, that it cost me quite an effort to 
 quit my contemplation for the church and its 
 more ostensible worship. On reaching the 
 building, I found the assemblage in front, in 
 92 
 
My First Sunday in Korsakoffsk 
 
 various groups, as motley and sadly suggestive 
 as could be found in any spot on this wide 
 world. In the last degree it was picturesque 
 and pathetic. Inside, as in all Greek churches, 
 there were no seats, not even one for the Gov- 
 ernor. Here, in a degree rarely seen in other 
 lands which are Christian, and never in heathen 
 countries, the church is a place in which all 
 worshippers share and share alike; to this, how- 
 ever, I was prepared to find an exception in 
 Korsakoffsk. The church was crowded to the 
 doors, the congregation numbering about three 
 or four hundred. The only difference in the 
 treatment of the worshippers had its good rea- 
 son. This was a strip of carpet on the stone 
 pavement for the wives and daughters of the 
 ojfficers, used as a protection for their knees and 
 dresses during their many and prolonged genu- 
 flexions. 
 
 The Sunday-morning toilets of these free 
 convicts and their families show that great pains 
 are taken by each person to wear something or 
 other which is both an ornament and a souvenir 
 of a former home. Thus, by a bodice, a cravat, 
 an apron, a quaint piece of jewellery, or what 
 not, all of the most ancient date even where they 
 came from, this little out-of-the-world congrega- 
 tion was linked not only with the most distant 
 provinces of Russia, but even with many coun- 
 93 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 tries of Europe besides. What diversity! 
 What picturesqueness! What pathos! in these 
 cherished Httle mementoes they had preserved 
 through all their thousands of miles of travel 
 under conditions so painfully adverse! The 
 humanness of it, the wholesome moral signifi- 
 cance of it, impressed me immensely so much 
 so that a certain ludicrous feature in the con- 
 glomeration was hardly thought of till after- 
 ward. The physiognomy of this congregation 
 would have been a mine to my old friend. Pro- 
 fessor Lombroso. 
 
 In the faces of some, murder was as visible 
 as if red-hot branding irons had burned and 
 stamped " Cain " across every feature. Re- 
 specting the larger number, however, I am 
 bound to admit that my principal wonder was 
 how these persons could have come to Sakha- 
 lin at all. In their manners the diversity was 
 less, deportment being a prime feature in the 
 daily conduct of all of them. As for the priest, 
 I have rarely seen one even in the larger cities 
 of Russia whose appearance was at once so re- 
 fined and sympathetic. A Grseco-Roman nose, 
 a high forehead, a superbly luxuriant beard, a 
 pale complexion, manners gentle and devout, all 
 combined to suggest in his general aspect the 
 type adopted by the old masters in their repre- 
 sentations of the Christ. 
 94 
 
My First Sunday in Korsakoffsk 
 
 His vestments were, for such a poor place, 
 surprisingly rich and beautiful. Above all, the 
 impression of simplicity and sincerity in both 
 priest and people was so predominant, that a 
 casual spectator could not escape from joining 
 in the general devotion. Fully half of the serv- 
 ice was read by laymen. And who were they? 
 One had committed a murder, as I afterward 
 learned; the other, a crime if possible still more 
 revolting. Had I known this at the time, I 
 think that the pathos of it all would have been 
 barely supportable. The choral part of the serv- 
 ice was good, as in Russian churches it almost 
 invariably is; but not so good, I thought, as that 
 of the troops I had heard on the previous 
 evening. 
 
 The church choir, which was antiphonal, and 
 therefore a large one, could not, however, include 
 any members of the military choir, as soldiers in 
 the imperial service are not allowed to associate 
 openly with murderers, exiles, or any other con- 
 victs, under any circumstances whatever. 
 
 There were here and there in the congrega- 
 tion young and middle-aged men who by their 
 dress, manner, and general appearance, just as 
 they stood, would be judged to be gentlemen 
 anywhere. I found that these were good-con- 
 duct men engaged chiefly as clerks and book- 
 keepers in the offices of the Administration. 
 95 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 As the official documents concerning every 
 convict are not only in duplicate, but in double 
 duplicate, the staff of clerks employed is a com- 
 paratively large one, and between many of these 
 and their superior officers the relations have to 
 be quite confidential. To men in these posi- 
 tions, special privileges are granted, their lives 
 being thus made as easy and agreeable as the 
 regulations will allow such, indeed, as many 
 free people might envy. The church attendance 
 of the officials on Sunday morning is part of the 
 regulations. In the case of the free convicts, 
 however, it is entirely voluntary. On the point 
 of sincerity one sinner may hardly allow himself 
 to judge others, but what seemed like sincerity 
 was so conspicuous that under its spell my own 
 heart was quickly brought into unison with what 
 I felt to be a common worship. In that attitude 
 of higher communion came a sense of fellowship 
 a fellowship in sacrifice; a sacrifice as of 
 broken hearts and contrite spirits. 
 
 At a certain point in the service, the priest 
 came forward and, standing on the lowest chan- 
 cel step, which in the Greek Church is used in 
 rightful preference to a pulpit, gave a plain, 
 practical gospel address. It was a model at least 
 in this that it lasted only about ten minutes. 
 This address was followed by the administration 
 of the communion service. 
 
 96 
 
My First Sunday in Korsakoffsk 
 
 One feature in fine contrast to the custom 
 in Protestant communions is this that the flock 
 is first, the shepherd next; it was the children, 
 not the priest, who were the first recipients of 
 the elements. This struck me as highly consist- 
 ent and suggestive. The elements employed 
 were: bread, which is always made expressly for 
 the purpose by the priest's wife; wine, to which 
 are added three parts of water, which is warm, 
 in imitation of the blood which flowed from the 
 Saviour's wounded side. The bread, the wine, 
 and the water being duly mixed together in a 
 chalice, the priest, with a small silver spoon, 
 puts a little of the mixture into the mouths of 
 the infants held by the mothers in a row at the 
 chancel steps. The cross having been put to 
 their lips, they were dismissed to their homes. 
 
 After a short interval of music by the choir, 
 the Royal Gates were thrown back, and the 
 priest reappeared, carrying, on a level with his 
 face, a chalice covered with a napkin. Address- 
 ing the communicants, he said: " In the fear of 
 the Lord and in peace, come ye.'* 
 
 This was followed by a liturgical confession 
 repeated in unison. 
 
 At each communion the priest said: "The 
 
 servant of God . . . communicates in the name 
 
 of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
 
 Ghost." The administration was the same as de- 
 
 9 97 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 scribed in the case of the infants, with this differ- 
 ence, that a lay reader, who assisted the priest, 
 held under the chin of the person communica- 
 ting a little silk serviette, with which he after- 
 ward wiped the lips of the communicant, who 
 then kissed the edge of the chalice and the cross 
 which the priest put to his lips. 
 
 On a table in the east corner of the church 
 was a pile of exquisitely white little loaves, cov- 
 ered all over with little spear-shaped incisions. 
 On returning to their places a number of the 
 communicants called at this table and purchased 
 one or more of these rolls, which they carefully 
 wrapped in white linen for friends or others 
 unable to attend the church. 
 
 I was once allowed to go behind the Royal 
 Gates, in what might be termed the Holy of 
 Holies, both before and during the whole of a 
 communion service in the largest and most 
 important of the churches in St. Petersburg. 
 On a table in a recess close behind me was a 
 large pile of these little rolls with a cross 
 stamped on them. A short liturgy was said 
 over them by a deacon, who then with a spear- 
 shaped knife carefully made on each of them 
 a number of the spear-shaped incisions I have 
 mentioned. They represent the spear-wounds in 
 the Saviour's body. The pieces cut out were 
 kept to be mixed with the wine and water. 
 
 98 
 
My First Sunday in Korsakoffsk 
 
 In the Greek service the Nicene Creed was 
 used. Much of the litany, also a good part of 
 the post-communion service, was identical with 
 that so familiar to us in the Roman and Angli- 
 can churches. Hence, in part, perhaps, the fact 
 that, as I joined with these unfortunates in this 
 service, the consciousness of distance and differ- 
 ence which may come to the reader almost en- 
 tirely faded from my mind. 
 
 As I afterward thought of the hundreds and 
 thousands of murderers who in other Christian 
 countries had been sent with short shrift to their 
 eternal doom by the hands of society within our 
 own time, I could but reflect upon the scene in 
 which I had shared with profound thankfulness 
 for the difference. 
 
 The service over, it was pleasant to witness 
 the affectionate adieus, and to watch the pious 
 care with which many of these unfortunates 
 were carrying home to invalid friends and others 
 the sacred bread, a memorial of the one sacrifice 
 made for the sins of the whole world, even for 
 thieves and murderers. 
 
 After twelve o'clock it became evident that 
 the Sabbath in its strict sense was at an end. I 
 observed an unusual elongation and elegance in 
 our dinner-table, which seemed suggestive of a 
 general break-up of the fast many had been ob- 
 serving. Within half an hour after our return 
 99 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 home, the first of many guests to arrive was our 
 good priest, and I was delighted to have the 
 pleasure of meeting him. The more we were 
 together, the more did he confirm in private the 
 excellent impression he had made upon me in 
 public. 
 
 Afterward came in, one by one, several of the 
 officers I had met on the evening of my arrival. 
 Then came the wife and eldest daughter of the 
 priest. The latter, in addressing her mother, 
 used the same word as an American girl would 
 employ " mamma " while her father was ad- 
 dressed not only by her, but by everybody else, 
 with the priestly and paternal word " papa." Its 
 use in this case was evidently in part a sincere 
 and respectful term of endearment, as well as of 
 ordinary custom. 
 
 Some of the officers' wives who had not be- 
 fore seen the Governor since his return were 
 particularly enthusiastic and cordial in their 
 greetings. It soon appeared that some of the 
 visitors had come not simply to dinner, but, in 
 Siberian fashion, to stay the rest of the day. 
 From one and another of the ladies, I now 
 learned that the festivities which were manifest- 
 ly imminent were partly in honour of myself, to 
 whom everybody who arrived was promptly pre- 
 sented. Not only a number of the ladies, but 
 several of the officers told me that they had 
 
 100 
 
My First Sunday in KorsakofFsk 
 
 never seen an " Englees " or an " Americana " 
 before, and that I was the first foreigner who 
 had ever stayed in KorsakofTsk for a single night. 
 None of them could pronounce the word " Eng- 
 lish " as in the vernacular; the word " Ameri- 
 cana " required no efifort whatever. It being 
 known that I was to be a resident in the settle- 
 ment for a considerable period, the questions 
 naturally enough were innumerable. 
 
 They knew that only as the Governor's 
 guest could I have come to Korsakoffsk, and 
 I had reasons for suspecting that my host had 
 already chosen to make himself responsible for 
 more than one exaggeration about me, intended 
 to be in my favour. Perhaps the predominant 
 impression which seemed to have gained cur- 
 rency concerning me, especially among the la- 
 dies, was that I must be exceedingly rich, for, 
 said they, nobody could travel so far merely for 
 pleasure, unless he had the money to do it with. 
 The interest of my newly made friends extended 
 even to my clothes, which several of them po- 
 litely asked permission to examine. 
 
 A little bell tinkled in the garden tent, and 
 quickly and as informally as by children at a pic- 
 nic, the seats at the table were occupied. With- 
 out loss of time the priest said his apt three- 
 word grace, all crossed themselves, and the 
 preliminary vodka was passed around. Before 
 
 lOI 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 anybody had time to taste it, however, the alert 
 Governor jumped up, and impulsively proposed 
 " the health of our distinguished guest." They 
 insisted on drinking the toast three times. 
 They seemed to find some amusement in my lit- 
 tle response, especially in my reference to the 
 amiable but artful trick by which they had all 
 got three drinks ahead of me at the start. The 
 raw ham, sardines, potato-salad, the cucumbers 
 which were eaten as we eat apples, pickles, 
 caviare, various cold meats, the alternations of 
 vodka and cigarettes, were only to give us appe- 
 tite. The real dinner itself began with soup, 
 accompanied by tiny hashed meat dumplings, 
 such as I have enjoyed at private native tables in 
 Canton and in some parts of Austria. They 
 were so delicious that they might have made an 
 excellent meal by themselves. 
 
 The inevitable huge fish-pie, to refuse which 
 would be equivalent to a discourtesy both to 
 the host and to the Russian flag, was followed 
 by boiled beef, roast chicken, and salad, with a 
 good variety of vegetables and pickles, among 
 which beets were conspicuous. 
 
 The sweets were blanc-mange, varieties of 
 cream, clotted and otherwise, for which our 
 hostess was famous, a great variety of fruit con- 
 serves, jellies, native wild strawberries wdth 
 cream, and confections, etc. The beverages, 
 1 02 
 
My First Sunday in Korsakoffsk 
 
 which, with cigarettes, were literally forced on 
 one throughout the dinner, included bottled 
 beer, German wines, and champagne. There 
 was one thing which seemed to be quite un- 
 heard of there that was water. 
 
 When dessert was reached, a new contingent 
 of friends arrived. For these the table was ex- 
 tended across the path reaching to the grass- 
 plot, and nothing could prevent madame from 
 having them served with every course from the 
 beginning until they caught up with the rest 
 of us. 
 
 Talk about the sullenness, the gloominess 
 of the Russian! Only in a Vienna restaurant 
 could one hear such a babel of argument. Talk 
 of the oppression of women in Russia! From 
 the gestures of some of the ladies it seemed 
 that if there was domestic oppression in Korsa- 
 kofTsk, the ladies were certainly not the victims. 
 
 The spontaneity, informality, and enthusi- 
 asm of these good people, their overwhelming 
 good-nature, and their courtesy would elsewhere 
 have seemed almost excessive. But the artless- 
 ness, the sincerity of it all was magnificent. 
 
 About the middle of the afternoon, when 
 the larger number of the guests had excused 
 themselves for a temporary visit to their neigh- 
 bouring homes, a visiting card was handed to 
 the Governor. This, the first visiting card I had 
 103 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 yet seen in Korsakoffsk, was quickly followed 
 by the gentleman announced, who presented 
 himself in the garden attired in full evening cos- 
 tume. The Governor received him in a manner 
 which combined official dignity with courtesy, 
 and, after a little amiable chat, called for a glass 
 and cigarettes. 
 
 The visitor, however, taking only a glass of 
 tea, mildly excused himself from smoking, and 
 after only a few minutes' stay, with courteous 
 formality took his departure. 
 
 I ascertained that he was a newly arrived 
 doctor, a civilian in the Government service, 
 who had been sent to take medical charge of the 
 civil department of the station, in the place of 
 the other surgeon I have mentioned, who had 
 left on the Baikall. This was his call of cere- 
 mony on his chief, to report himself for the du- 
 ties of the post to which he had been assigned. 
 I suspected that the recent prison escapes had 
 something to do with the change. 
 
 As I may have more to say about this good 
 doctor and future friend farther on, I will now 
 merely remark in passing, that I suspected his 
 position to be one requiring considerable tact 
 and self-respect, both of which he exhibited in 
 an admirable degree. 
 
 Between six and seven o'clock several of the 
 guests who had absented themselves returned, 
 104 
 
My First Sunday in Korsakoffsk 
 
 as is the habit in Korsakoffsk, in time for early 
 supper. 
 
 About nine o'clock much larger contingents 
 of visitors arrived, until, with one exception 
 only, every official family of the settlement was 
 represented. The good-natured tact and skill 
 
 of Madame S now more than ever were 
 
 perpetually manifest. Her brilliant perform- 
 ances of Bach and other classical selections on 
 her piano, which was the only one in the settle- 
 ment, might have excited the envy of many pro- 
 fessional pianists, while her songs were rendered 
 with a voice which, though not strong, was ex- 
 ceedingly sweet and sympathetic. 
 
 Two or three of the officers also played in 
 fairly good style, and one or more sang, if not 
 classically, yet with good enough effect to fur- 
 nish a very agreeable diversion. 
 
 Then came the inevitable dancing. The first 
 waltz was led by the Governor and the priest's 
 eldest daughter, a fine buxom girl, though only 
 about sixteen, who, taking after her father, had 
 considerable beauty, and, being the pet of the 
 settlement, was as full of innocent joyousness as 
 good health, good-nature, and complete unre- 
 straint could make her. Eugenie was the only 
 young lady, in the full sense of the word, in the 
 settlement, and in it she was queen. She knew 
 this, and, notwithstanding her naturalness, the 
 105 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 consciousness of her power occasionally revealed 
 itself in ways which were exquisitely amusing. 
 
 With his prodigious size, his military bear- 
 ing, and his stentorian voice, there was not in 
 the whole island another officer who, apart from 
 his rank, could so terrify a gang of murderers as 
 could my host the Governor; yet among the 
 smaller playmates of Eugenie there was not one 
 who was more completely her slave. 
 
 Alone of all his friends, this child habitually 
 addressed him as Alexandrovitch. The fact is, 
 that there was about this outwardly austere and 
 much-dreaded Governor, a secret, one which he 
 most carefully guarded, just because it was so 
 troublesome to conceal. Beneath all his official 
 severity there was ever beating a heart which 
 was as young and as tender as that of Eugenie. 
 Hence it was that, while so dreaded by some, he 
 was the life and soul of every little tea-party in 
 the settlement. His two selves had never been 
 introduced to each other. Had such an intro- 
 duction been attempted by anybody, it would 
 have been resented by the official and starched 
 self as a personal indignity. 
 
 There were some very amusing attempts by 
 some of the guests to repeat after me my name 
 in English. Failing in this, they tried to convert 
 it into Russian. After numerous revised ver- 
 sions I was at last reduced to Venyamin Villi- 
 io6 
 
My First Sunday in KorsakofFsk 
 
 yamovitch. By a final vote, however, it was 
 agreed among them that, as it was shorter and 
 more distinctive, I should be called " Misteror," 
 and thereafter, with several of them, plain '' Mis- 
 teror," or '' the Mister," was my designation to 
 the end of my visit. 
 
 The question next in importance, and in 
 whose discussion the Governor joined, was, 
 whether I intended to write a book and, if so, 
 which of them would I put in it? There was 
 a chorus of " Don't forget me! Put me in," etc., 
 from over a dozen of them. I told them that I 
 never had written a book of travel, and never in- 
 tended to do so, as I was too lazy to make the 
 exertion, but that if I ever did I should probably 
 put every one of them in it, especially those who 
 would give me their portraits. I knew that 
 none of them had portraits to give; that, if ever 
 I did write a book about Korsakoffsk, I should 
 withhold my comments for at least four or five 
 years, by which time all now on duty there 
 would, according to custom, have been shifted 
 to other posts. Though made lightly, and of 
 my own accord, that promise has been faithfully 
 kept. 
 
 One of the ladies said that she had seen me 
 riding horseback the day before, and intended 
 to make the Governor arrange for me to give 
 her some riding lessons. 
 107 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 In such ways the " Misteror " was rapidly 
 being installed as a veritable member of the 
 Korsakoffsk colony, with almost all the rights 
 and more than the ordinary privileges thereunto 
 belonging. 
 
 The newly appointed civil surgeon of the 
 post did not appear during the evening, but the 
 military surgeon of the garrison did, and by his 
 playing and singing contributed not a little to 
 the general enjoyment. As the priest, like my- 
 self, did not dance, we took the opportunity of 
 having considerable conversation together. 
 
 As is usual in Russia, particularly in Siberia, 
 the relation of the priest in private seemed to be 
 one of respectful companionship with every- 
 body. My own acquaintance with him gradu- 
 ally ripened into a friendship I trust nothing will 
 ever interrupt. 
 
 With great nicety of clerical taste, he and his 
 family left earlier than the other guests, but not 
 before Madame S had with proud satisfac- 
 tion displayed to all the guests a book which had 
 the appearance of a small ledger. It was a book 
 of subscriptions for her day school, an institu- 
 tion for the children of exiles and convicts con- 
 trolled and supported by her with the help of 
 her visitors and friends. She wished to show 
 some very pleasing entries which had been 
 made in it during the past week, and thus quiet- 
 io8 
 
My First Sunday in Korsakoffsk 
 
 ly to suggest that these recent examples by 
 guests were worthy of imitation. It was a pleas- 
 ure to observe that this delicate piece of tactful- 
 ness was not without its immediate results. 
 Also, that this excellent charity had from its 
 commencement never lacked habitual sympathy 
 and support from the officials and families of the 
 settlement. 
 
 My bed, as I have previously said, was in the 
 room through which every guest must pass on 
 entering or leaving the house, for the idea of a 
 spare bedroom had never entered the head of 
 even the largest householder in the island of 
 Sakhalin. 
 
 As soon as the last visitor had departed, I 
 thankfully stretched myself on my little cot, and, 
 forgetful of the previous night, fell quietly into a 
 sleep which was unbroken till morning. 
 
 The experiences of any traveller given con- 
 secutively in diary form are apt to be tedious in 
 the reading. For the period covering the first 
 few days of my life in Korsakoffsk, I have never- 
 theless adopted this method, because I have 
 thought that in this way the reader might the 
 more vividly share my impressions as I was 
 being gradually hatched into social existence as 
 a member of this strange, distant, and isolated 
 community. 
 
 Following what I am sure will be a general 
 109 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 preference, I will hereafter, however, address 
 myself rather to topics, and speak of persons, 
 things, or incidents encountered at different 
 times, my selection being governed chiefly by 
 the questions which have been more commonly 
 put to me since my return. 
 
 no 
 
V. 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE KORSAKOFFSK PRISON 
 
 To those whose notions of a prison have 
 been gained from massive, imposing, and im- 
 pregnable structures of solid masonry such as 
 the old Tombs in New York city, the peniten- 
 tiaries at Sing Sing, or Auburn, or any of the 
 jails in England, the structure of the prison of 
 KorsakofTsk would be both a surprise and a dis- 
 appointment. 
 
 Place such a structure as this Korsakoffsk 
 prison in the suburbs of any town or city in 
 England or America, even in the more western 
 of its States, and not one stranger in fifty would 
 at first sight correctly guess the intention or 
 real use made of it. Eight out of ten of such 
 persons would probably conjecture it to be an 
 extensive block of warehouses for storage, or 
 else a factory, say, of agricultural implements, 
 or something of that sort. The principal objec- 
 tion to the warehouse guess would be the appar- 
 ent insecurity of the buildings, especially against 
 fire a defect which, it may be remarked here, 
 III 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 is of special consequence in Siberia, where fire, 
 always obtainable by the most destitute persons, 
 is more frequently employed than perhaps in 
 any other country as a weapon of resentment 
 and revenge, and also to facilitate robbery and 
 murder, and the escape of the culprits amid the 
 general excitement and confusion. 
 
 The prison of Korsakoffsk consists of long 
 ranges of buildings which completely inclose 
 an irregular quadrangle of some two or three 
 acres on the summit of the hill on which the set- 
 tlement is built. These buildings, like nearly all 
 the prisons in Siberia, are, with the exception of 
 the chimneys, constructed exclusively of wood, 
 which is left in its natural state and therefore 
 quickly acquires an appearance of great shab- 
 biness. 
 
 Nearly all the buildings used for the lodg- 
 ment or confinement of prisoners are single- 
 storied, and, except on the north and west sides, 
 the prison buildings at Korsakofifsk abut direct- 
 ly upon the street or open country. On the 
 north and west sides they are surrounded by a 
 stockade of sharply pointed timbers about eight 
 or ten feet high. Even on the north side, where 
 the stockade is supplemented by a trench, the 
 fence seems chiefly intended to indicate that per- 
 sons are requested not to pass that way. As a 
 protection to an apple-orchard, it would simply 
 
 112 
 
The Korsakoffsk Prison 
 
 offer an additional temptation to a daring 
 school-boy. This apparent insecurity plainly 
 points to the fact, so well known to all con- 
 cerned, that the fire is even hotter than the fry- 
 ing-pan. The temptations to escape from the 
 prison into the forests are so tempered by the 
 terrible dangers incident to success, that only 
 when desperation engenders madness will a con- 
 vict venture on such an enterprise. 
 
 The immense irregular quadrangle inclosed 
 within the prison buildings is divided into three 
 smaller ones the northern, the central, and the 
 southern. The northern is again divided into 
 other quadrangles or yards, each of which is 
 devoted to a special class of prisoners. 
 
 The buildings along the southern and east- 
 ern portion of the southern quadrangle are of 
 two stories, and are used chiefly as workshops. 
 In these there are several departments. They 
 include carpenter's, cabinet-maker's, shoemak- 
 er's, and tailor's shops, the latter being the 
 largest. In the cabinet-maker's shop was made 
 the exquisite furniture of the Governor's house, 
 which I have referred to, and excellent speci- 
 mens of its work are seen in the police court and 
 in other of^cial buildings. I saw in this shop 
 some capital fretwork and carving for the out- 
 side of a new government building then under 
 construction opposite the police court. The 
 113 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 skilled workmen in this shop, I was told, re- 
 ceived special bonuses; and, so far as their gen- 
 eral appearance and demeanour was concerned, 
 there was little or nothing in that shop to sug- 
 gest the idea of penal servitude. A considerable 
 proportion of these men lived in their own cot- 
 tages in the vicinity, and went to and fro as me- 
 chanics would do in ordinary life anywhere. 
 
 With the carpenters it was much the same, 
 except that, as the nature of their work made it 
 necessary to make frequent and irregular trips 
 between the shop and buildings under construc- 
 tion, a greater air of freedom was observed 
 among them. 
 
 Being myself very fond of mechanical work 
 when it is done by somebody else, I made fre- 
 quent visits to the large building then under 
 construction. The principal hindrance to such 
 visits in my own mind was the regulation accord- 
 ing to which on my approach every workman 
 near me would stop work, dofT his cap, come to 
 the position of attention with eyes fixed on the 
 ground, and so remain until I motioned him to 
 resume his work again. These men, like all 
 Russian carpenters, were particularly skilful in 
 the use of the adze and hatchet, and I was very 
 fond of watching their clever performances in 
 this particular. 
 
 If I happened to meet any of them in the 
 114 
 
The KorsakofFsk Prison 
 
 street, and they had a load which made a salute 
 impracticable, they would very properly attend 
 to their work without taking notice of me. 
 
 In the boot-and-shoe shops, and in the tail- 
 oring shop, there was a prevailing tone of re- 
 straint. The shops in these departments re- 
 minded me of the corresponding workshops I 
 have visited in various State prisons in America, 
 especially in the States of New York and Ohio, 
 except that in everything the Korsakoflfsk shops 
 exhibited incomparably less neatness, order, and 
 method, and that the principle of silence was not 
 so rigidly maintained even during official visits. 
 
 For the number of men employed the air 
 space was more than adequate, and vastly great- 
 er than I have seen in the shops and lodgings of 
 free working people in St. Petersburg, and more 
 particularly in Moscow. 
 
 In the southern quadrangle are situated the 
 only private or solitary cells I was able to find 
 in any part of the prison. I do not undertake 
 to say that no other solitary cells existed there. 
 I could hardly command every door in the es- 
 tablishment to be opened, hence I merely say 
 that in the course of my free wanderings about 
 the institution I did not succeed in discovering 
 any others, not even in the parts of the prison in 
 which were pointed out to me the most desper- 
 ate of all the criminals in the prison, who were 
 115 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 under special restraint. The restraint in all these 
 cases was of quite a different kind, partly, I 
 thought, as a matter of economy. The only 
 solitary cells I did find were to my surprise not 
 only in this most privileged quadrangle, but, 
 properly speaking, not cells at all. Further, in- 
 stead of being an extra punishment, they were 
 granted only as special concessions to the more 
 privileged prisoners, that they might thus be 
 spared association and contact with the general 
 herd in the large kameras. 
 
 In one of my wanderings about the prison 
 an ofificer who joined me asked me if I had ever 
 called on either of the princes. He seemed sur- 
 prised that I had not, and at once proposed that 
 we should do so, as he was sure that they would 
 be glad to have a chat with me. 
 
 Taking me across the yard, he knocked on 
 a little door opening right into the quadrangle, 
 but, getting no answer, opened it, passed 
 through a small lobby, and knocked on another 
 door at the farther end. This was at once 
 opened by a rather shabbily but very neatly 
 dressed man, who greeted him with a distin- 
 guished but subdued courtesy, which gradually 
 melted into an unaffected cordiality that was 
 thoroughly returned. 
 
 The major, who introduced me in a manner 
 which was as respectful to the prisoner as it 
 ii6 
 
The Korsakoffsk Prison 
 
 would have been to a fellow-officer, explained 
 the liberty he had taken by the pleasure he 
 thought it would afford the prince to meet one 
 from such a distance, and, taking out his cigar- 
 ettes, he made the prince lead the way in a gen- 
 eral and fraternal smoke. 
 
 A slight nervousness and timidity in the no- 
 bleman's manner being thus in some degree 
 abated, we soon launched into an easy conver- 
 sation, which was so unrestrained that I ven- 
 tured to shift my general remarks to personal 
 inquiries respecting himself, his present rou- 
 tine of living, occupation, and diversion, and the 
 extent to which he had acquired tolerance of the 
 daily monotony. 
 
 As this daily routine of his included but 
 little outside the cell in which we were convers- 
 ing, perhaps I had better mention that this was 
 a room in which floors, walls, and ceiling were 
 all of bare wood. It was about fourteen feet by 
 ten in size, about twelve feet high, and pro- 
 vided with a fairly large but grated window. 
 This admitted plenty of light, but through it 
 nothing could be seen but the sky, unless one 
 stood upon a chair or table, when he could gaze 
 over a fine landscape for twenty miles. This cell 
 contained a rough wooden cot with a neat-look- 
 ing bed, a long, narrow table, two rough chairs 
 and a stool, a fireplace, little shelves here and 
 117 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 there, and a bench, which appeared to be used 
 for some kind of work. The whole was scrupu- 
 lously neat. In person the prince was rather tall 
 and thin, with a very refined, dark, pale face set 
 off by very dark hair and beard, trimmed with 
 great neatness. I felt that not only now but at 
 all times, he must have been a man of gentle 
 disposition. 
 
 In answer to my personal questions, he 
 pointed to about a dozen small, greasy, half- 
 worn-out old books, of which two were Latin, 
 two German, and the rest Russian. The bench, 
 with a variety of odd materials upon it, I found 
 he used in the manufacture of little memoran- 
 dum pocket-books one of these rude examples 
 of his skill he was good enough to present to 
 me, and J have it with me at this moment as a 
 souvenir of my visit. Having ascertained from 
 the major that he would not be offended by it, 
 I praised his workmanship, and apologetically 
 placed on his little bench a couple of roubles. 
 Although anywhere else this rough specimen of 
 workmanship would not fetch five cents, I was 
 glad of the excuse for a compliment and a con- 
 tribution to his slender finances. I was assured 
 by my friend that the prince was more grateful 
 for this than he cared to express. 
 
 As I shall have to refer to this gentleman 
 again, I will only say now that our visit, which 
 ii8 
 
The Korsakoffsk Prison 
 
 lasted for about half an hour, was a very agree- 
 able one not only to myself and my friend, but 
 also, I think, to the prince, to whom it must 
 have afforded at least an agreeable diversion; 
 and, judging from his cordiality when we parted, 
 I believe that he thoroughly appreciated it. I 
 was much struck by the courteous and respect- 
 ful manner in which the prince was treated by 
 the major, and to observe that this was evidently 
 not at all affected for this special occasion, but 
 fairly illustrated the consideration and sympathy 
 which the distinguished prisoner was in the 
 habit of receiving from the other officials also. 
 
 So far as the bed and general appointments 
 of the prince's quarters were concerned, it is 
 only fair to say that, though smaller, his cell or 
 lodging was quite as comfortable and neat as 
 the average of the apartments of the unmarried 
 military and civil officers in the settlement. 
 
 For special reasons, the prince was strictly 
 confined to the prison area; he took his exercise 
 as he pleased in the southern quadrangle, and his 
 life was as completely separate from that of the 
 general prisoners as was that of many of the 
 officials. 
 
 There was another solitary cell in this quad- 
 rangle, occupied by another prisoner who was 
 also a prince. His quarters, which were pointed' 
 out to me, were about the same as the cell I 
 119 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 have described. His general treatment, too, I 
 was informed, was conducted on the same lines. 
 
 The central quadrangle into which the main 
 entrance to the prison opened had to be crossed 
 in going to either of the others. Its eastern 
 flank consisted of the guard-house and officers' 
 quarters; the western of kameras, chiefly occu- 
 pied by the good-conduct second-year prison- 
 ers, who were busy elsewhere during the day. 
 At such times, therefore, these buildings were 
 usually almost empty, and presented nothing 
 whatever worthy of mention. 
 
 The northern quadrangle, separated from 
 the central one by a strong stockade, was chiefly 
 occupied by the first-year prisoners. The build- 
 ings on the northern side of it contained those 
 who were considered the most desperate, such as 
 in Europe would be kept in solitary cells for life. 
 Not a single cell, nor even a special-punishment 
 cell, was I able to find in this quadrangle. 
 
 The only distinctive feature I could discover 
 in this northern range was not in the size of the 
 rooms, which were as large and airy as any of 
 the others, but in the fact that the prisoners 
 there were strictly confined to their quarters, 
 and that every one of them wore the maximum 
 fourteen-pound chains all the time. The weight 
 included the leg chains, which were attached 
 from a waist-belt and could be raised by a string 
 
 I20 
 
The Korsakoffsk Prison 
 
 in walking, and the wrist-chains, which were 
 also attached to the same belt. These chains 
 constituted what was considered a sufficient en- 
 cumbrance to preclude escape, though they did 
 not interfere with the necessary movements of 
 the prisoners. Upon these there was no re- 
 straint whatsoever within the large room as- 
 signed to them, in which they associated with 
 each other with as much freedom as if the kam- 
 era were simply a house of detention. 
 
 From all I could see, the main idea of 
 the authorities was to hold these convicts se- 
 curely, yet at the least cost and trouble. The 
 notion of mere punishment did not seem to 
 enter into the calculations. It was here that 
 were kept the men who had committed addi- 
 tional murders or other crimes since their arri- 
 val in Sakhalin. And this was the room from 
 which were brought the prisoners who were 
 at different times flogged in my presence. 
 
 On the right of this quadrangle is an oblong 
 north-east quadrangle. In this, on the highest 
 point within the prison walls, is situated the 
 watch-tower, which overlooks not only all the 
 yards or quadrangles, but the whole town and 
 the country immediately surrounding. This 
 north-east quadrangle is flanked by a very long 
 line of prisoners' lodgings, the windows of which 
 look out upon the mountain scenery beyond. 
 
 121 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 Within these buildings are situated the bake- 
 houses for the prison and settlement, and the 
 cook-houses and kitchen premises of the prison. 
 
 Here, in these rude and extensive kitchens, 
 I would watch the bread-making and baking, 
 and in another part beyond the bakery see the 
 final distribution of it to convicts and officials. 
 As I tasted different lots and batches, I satisfied 
 myself that as regards quality there was no dis- 
 crimination in the respective issues, the same 
 brown bread being distributed to officers and 
 convicts alike. I did the same respecting other 
 parts of the daily rations, and satisfied myself 
 that the samples of soup tasted by the Governor 
 and myself daily at his house were bona fide 
 specimens of the soup actually given on the 
 same day to the convicts. The fish soup, in par- 
 ticular, I found to be very palatable and seem- 
 ingly nutritious. It was fairly thick, and con- 
 tained a good proportion of vegetables, includ- 
 ing potatoes and cabbage, and to this I partly 
 attributed my inability to discover among the 
 prisoners actual cases of scurvy, so prevalent in 
 Siberian prisons. 
 
 The different kameras or rooms were all 
 pretty much alike long, lofty sheds with the 
 same sloping wooden bench running down one 
 side, and in some cases, but not in all, a rough 
 table with equally rough benches or stools, as 
 
 122 
 
The Korsakoffsk Prison 
 
 the only furniture. During the day, each pris- 
 oner's blanket was in a roll at the head of his 
 accustomed sleeping-place on the bench, as is 
 so often seen in the lodgings for detained pris- 
 oners, for vagrants, and in " doss " houses in 
 various other countries. 
 
 I think that any foreign visitor would de- 
 scribe this establishment, so far as the buildings 
 are concerned, as barracks, its use as a prison 
 appearing to have been a subsequent adapta- 
 tion. 
 
 I made frequent visits to the barracks of the 
 military garrison within gunshot of the prison, 
 and so am familiar with every detail of the ac- 
 commodation there provided for the soldiers of 
 the imperial army. In both the barracks and 
 the prison the air space is beyond all regulation 
 requirements. In both, the wooden flooring 
 and the sleeping bench arrangements are the 
 same. There are only two points of difference: 
 In the barracks the windows are at the usual 
 height above the floor, and are not barred, 
 hence the barrack-room has a more cheerful ap- 
 pearance, even where the windows are only in 
 the same proportion; and there is a larger sup- 
 ply of tables, benches, and stools, but the style 
 of these is the same in both cases. 
 
 There is, then, substantially but little differ- 
 ence between the barrack-room of the soldier 
 123 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 and the kamera of the convict in Korsakoffsk 
 prison. 
 
 The impression received on entering the sol- 
 diers' quarters is, however, quite another mat- 
 ter. As each soldier has in addition to his kit 
 a variety of little belongings which he is allowed 
 to arrange more or less according to his taste, 
 the visitor immediately feels that the barrack- 
 room is occupied by free individuals, the prison 
 kamera by residents under restraint. 
 
 The only part of the prison which exhibits 
 the slightest pretension to architecture is the 
 gate-way at the main entrance. Its fagade is 
 quite high and solid-looking, with fairly well- 
 carved panels overhead, the effect of which is 
 mildly imposing. The gates themselves are 
 massive wood, quite plain, and are rarely 
 opened, a smaller door within the same porch- 
 way being all that is used for ordinary ingress 
 and egress. 
 
 This entrance is under a very deep flat- 
 roofed archway within which are two or more 
 offices. Two sentinels always stand at the front 
 of the door, one of whom strokes down and ex- 
 amines every convict whenever he goes in or 
 out, to ascertain if he has any forbidden article 
 concealed about his person. 
 
 On the appearance of an officer at the gate, 
 " Smirno " is yelled out, the sentinels on duty 
 124 
 

The Korsakoffsk Prison 
 
 salute, and the corporal of the guard passes him 
 in or out. When the Governor enters the whole 
 guard turns out, though, if the visit be a repeti- 
 tion during the same day, he generally orders 
 them not to do so. 
 
 The turnkey is not an inevitable companion 
 in moving about this prison. If it was neces- 
 sary to have any particular locked door opened, 
 the man with the key would be hunted up; 
 but these occasions were few, as most of the 
 doors in all directions, except in the north- 
 ernmost building, would need but a push or 
 the raising of the latch during the daytime to 
 open them. 
 
 As most of the kameras or lodging-rooms 
 were occupied at night by thirty or forty prison- 
 ers, it seemed to me that plots and combinations 
 might be made in considerable force, especially 
 as two thirds of the prisoners wore no chains at 
 all. From the unprison-like looseness and shift- 
 lessness prevalent throughout the establishment, 
 I gathered that it is sufficiently understood by 
 the prisoners that it is the island itself which is 
 their real prison, the jail structure being re- 
 garded rather as lodgings, a successful escape 
 from which would be but the beginning of in- 
 evitable and additional suffering beyond possible 
 calculation. 
 
 Under these circumstances in Sakhalin, the 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 state does not go to the expense of building 
 imposing stone castles with gloomy corridors 
 and cave-like cells. It does not employ troops 
 of turnkeys and wardens with their melancholy 
 clank of keys to watch each individual prisoner 
 immured in his sepulchral and solitary cell, but 
 adopts an expedient vastly cheaper for the 
 state the use of manacles of varying weight 
 and strength adapted to what may be deemed 
 expedient in each particular case. In none of 
 the kameras did I discover the unpleasant odour 
 I had expected. What might be found in 
 winter, when the stoves were lighted and the 
 doors closed, I am unable to say, but I can hard- 
 ly imagine the prisoners as being satisfied unless 
 the atmosphere were rendered unbreathable for 
 an ordinary European. 
 
 Should this general description of the prison 
 building at Korsakofifsk excite any feeling of 
 disappointment because it includes too litttle 
 that is horrible, the facts alone can be held re- 
 sponsible. It may be observed that, on the 
 other hand, I have said nothing whatever in its 
 praise. I am writing at the present moment just 
 fresh from a visit to one of the best of her late 
 British Majesty's model prisons in England, in 
 which the floors and utensils, from the con- 
 demned cells to the kitchen, are in a state of 
 cleanliness and polish which is scarcely sur- 
 126 
 
The Korsakoffsk Prison 
 
 passed in any one of the palaces in which the 
 Queen herself resided. 
 
 To judge the prison of Korsakoffsk by such 
 a standard, I need not say, would be simply ab- 
 surd, and yet anybody who is acquainted with 
 the character and habits of the classes from 
 which the greater number of the Korsakoffsk 
 convicts are derived, would not for a moment 
 doubt that if to such a convict could be offered 
 a change to the solitary confinement and oakum- 
 picking within one of the cells in this silent 
 mausoleum, he would regard the proposition 
 with the utmost horror and most emphatically 
 reject the offer. 
 
 It would seem to be particularly prophetic of 
 the Asiatic, and of the low-class Russian, that 
 man is not made " to live alone." The ordinary 
 moujik, with his huge greasy boots and oily 
 sheepskin overcoat, its woolly side inward, in 
 which he works by day and sleeps and stews by 
 night on the top of the domestic oven, right 
 through the long winter, becomes the metrop- 
 olis of the world of parasites, which, according 
 to his notion, helps to keep him warm and com- 
 fortable. One of the punishments he most re- 
 sents on being sent to Sakhalin is the strong 
 weekly compulsory steam-bath. 
 
 In Korsakoffsk there are three bath-houses: 
 one for the officials, one for the soldiers, and one 
 127 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 for the convicts. They are all on the same 
 plan, and the process is practically the same in 
 each. When the bather enters the general bath- 
 room, the attendant dips buckets of not actu- 
 ally boiling water from a tank, and continues to 
 dash this at him as long as he thinks he can 
 stand it. Then he flagellates the bather all over 
 with rods made, not of birch, but of prickly pine 
 branches, till he is as red as a lobster. 
 
 He next spreads on a part of the floor, 
 which is the brick roof of a furnace, a thick car- 
 pet of fresh pine leaves and directs the bather 
 to stand on it. Upon this he dashes bucket 
 after bucket of the same hot water until the 
 scalding steam arising from it becomes so dense 
 and suffocating that the bather is literally com- 
 pletely lost in the clouds. After the exposure 
 to the steam has been enough to kill any living 
 creature smaller than the bather himself, he is 
 taken aside, and thoroughly scrubbed with soap- 
 suds and a pine branch brush. Again he is 
 bathed, scrubbed, and steamed as before, the at- 
 tendant telling him to keep gently turning. 
 Two or three buckets of water not frozen quite 
 solid give the coup de grace. They are spitefully 
 dashed upon the victim with such force that it 
 is impossible for him to say whether the water 
 is very cold or very hot. This sort of a bath is 
 a great luxury when it is over. Such is the 
 128 
 
The Korsakoffsk Prison 
 
 tonic and stimulating effect of it, I was told, 
 that after it, with the temperature outside 
 twenty or thirty degrees below zero, bathers 
 will sometimes run home through snow-drifts 
 with most of their clothing under their arms, 
 and feel all the better for it. 
 
 For mutual convenience, every official has 
 his particular hour once a week, when he has un- 
 disturbed possession. Though this process is 
 a very thorough one, it is none too much so 
 perhaps; for, like confession and absolution, it 
 has to cover a multitude of sins. 
 
 The therapeutical effect of these baths de- 
 pends on the individual. To those who need 
 them and are strong enough to bear them, they 
 may be very useful. 
 
 I know of one case in which a man in New 
 York took a Russian bath as it is practised there, 
 who, having a weak heart, was killed by it on 
 the spot. I also know of three other persons 
 in whose case such a bath was followed by per- 
 manent disability. In spite of this knowledge, 
 however, like an idiot, I took my turn and went 
 through the whole process, exactly as did the 
 Governor. I cannot say that I felt very much 
 the worse for it in any particular, but, while I 
 told my host that I had enjoyed it " very much, 
 thank you," I never went again. 
 
 129 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE FOOD OF THE EXILES 
 
 The average daily ration consisted of three 
 pounds of bread and a quarter of a pound of 
 meat, or a pound of fish, with about a pint of 
 soup. 
 
 The men who were at hard labour received 
 an additional pound of bread. On the fast days, 
 over a hundred of which were religiously ob- 
 served by the prison regulations, no meat was 
 supplied. In this case fish was substituted for it. 
 
 The soup had for its basis sometimes meat, 
 sometimes fish, and always contained vege- 
 tables. These were either potatoes or cabbage, 
 and sometimes both. 
 
 Each prisoner could have his ration separate- 
 ly, if he wished it, but, generally speaking, all 
 the inmates of a single kamera or room would 
 be divided into squads, each squad having its 
 Starosta or chief, of its own selection, who re- 
 ceived all the rations due to his mess. By this 
 arrangement, each person could get perhaps 
 more of that part of the ration which he hap- 
 130 
 
The Food of the Exiles 
 
 pened to like best; better dishes could be made 
 by the Starosta with the materials, and certain 
 parts which were in excess, especially bread, 
 could be exchanged for something more to their 
 general liking. The quantity of bread given to 
 prisoners is greater than that supplied in Eng- 
 lish prisons, and is the same as that given to the 
 Russian soldiery. 
 
 The bread is made of rye, the same as is used 
 all through Germany as well as Russia. This 
 black bread, as it is called, is supposed to have 
 more staying power than wheaten white bread, 
 and, though repulsive in some eyes, is preferred 
 by those accustomed to it, not only among the 
 peasantry, but among many persons of all 
 classes throughout the greater part of the con- 
 tinent. On my visits to the prison bakery, I 
 have seen this bread made, baked, and delivered, 
 and in its distribution observed that the convict 
 Starostas and the famiHes of the officials were 
 served from the same batch without discrimina- 
 tion. This bread is used by the official families 
 themselves more largely than white bread, 
 though the latter is usually on their tables. The 
 Governor always preferred the black bread, and 
 used to laugh at my folly in not sharing his 
 taste. 
 
 I observed that the various gangs of convicts 
 working within, say, a mile or so of the prison 
 131 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 were allowed to come to the building for dinner, 
 so as to get their soup, meat, or fish, as the case 
 might be, in addition to the bread, which other- 
 wise would have been their only portion. 
 
 Convicts continuing within the prison after 
 their two years of good-conduct service, who 
 had money, whether sent to them, or earned by 
 them in one of the prison workshops, were al- 
 lowed to supplement their prison rations with 
 whatever other articles they could purchase 
 from the commissariat. 
 
 A very considerable number of those em- 
 ployed in the various workshops within the 
 prison, but who lived in their own cottages, 
 had in addition the products of their own gar- 
 dens. 
 
 To facilitate a variety in their menu, there 
 was a shop in the town which was open twice a 
 week. It corresponded to a sutler's in the 
 army, and offered as great a variety of goods as 
 the store of an American western village. It 
 also supplied about the same indescribable com- 
 bination of odours, in which kerosene, cheese, 
 onions, pepper, and peppermint lozenges were 
 among the articles which more conspicuously 
 announced themselves. In gloomy weather, 
 and when feeling as if I were an exile myself, I 
 used to drop in at the store for a change. Be- 
 sides the composite odour and its western asso- 
 132 
 
The Food of the Exiles 
 
 ciations, there were the famihar placards and ad- 
 vertisements of Waterbury clocks, Pears' soap, 
 and Palmer's biscuits. These advertisement 
 cards were used as pictorial works of art with 
 which to astonish the wondering eyes of the 
 poor exiles, who were utterly incapable of com- 
 prehending them, but to me they suggested 
 thoughts of home and friends and country, 
 which by so many possibilities I might perhaps 
 never see again. 
 
 I inquired if through rich friends at home, 
 or exceptional earnings and savings in Sakhalin, 
 some of the free convicts used the store facili- 
 ties so as to live in a luxurious and extravagant 
 manner. My informant told me that, though 
 there were some exiles in each of the categories 
 whose friends were rich and willing to be gener- 
 ous, the regulations are so distinct and compre- 
 hensive that the maximum amount which can 
 come into the hands of an exile is small, and so 
 definitely limited, that there is very little possi- 
 bility of such occurrences. Whatever the 
 amount of money friends may send for a pris- 
 oner, the whole of it is placed to his account 
 with the Administration. While in prison he is 
 not allowed to draw more than two roubles a 
 month; afterward he may receive more, accord- 
 ing to the category to which by good conduct 
 he is promoted. The same is the case with his 
 133 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 earnings, and in all instances must he report in 
 detail the items for which the money is expend- 
 ed. In this way, recklessness in expenditure is 
 not a temptation. Moreover, as might be ex- 
 pected, I found the prices of various articles so 
 high as to be almost beyond the range of that 
 class of customers, except in very small quan- 
 tities. 
 
 The Government allowance for prisoners 
 and for prison subsistence is made upon a basis 
 of so much per head. It may be ten, fifteen, or 
 twenty kopeks. This varies necessarily accord- 
 ing to time and place. At the time I was in 
 KorsakofTsk it was fifteen kopeks. Forced col- 
 onists, or peasant colonists, had the option of 
 taking this wholly in money, or partly in money 
 and partly in provisions, or of taking the full 
 ration in kind. In the agricultural villages as in 
 the prison, the peasant convicts club together, 
 and, as there are many things they grow them- 
 selves, they arrange to draw only one or two 
 articles in kind, and the rest in money. 
 
 It was my impression that, as regards quan- 
 tity, the rations of food were ample, especially 
 of bread, but that as regards variety there was 
 something to be desired. Yet, the scurvy, 
 which is so frequently found in consequence of 
 this defect in many parts of Siberia, I looked 
 for in vain in Sakhalin as a distinct disease, 
 134 
 
The Food of the Exiles 
 
 though a scorbutic condition was frequently 
 manifest. 
 
 The alleviation of the lot of prisoners by out- 
 side contributions, such as occurs to a consider- 
 able extent in the larger towns of Siberia by the 
 united efforts of philanthropic committees, can- 
 not take place in Sakhalin. The freedom with 
 which prisoners are allowed to receive supplies 
 of food, not only occasionally, but daily from 
 friends outside, in the larger towns in Siberia 
 proper, had surprised me; but in Korsakoff sk 
 the only voluntary aid of which I am aware 
 was that given to children through Madame 
 
 S , of which I have spoken. In addition to 
 
 the school she maintained for them, she helped 
 them in various other ways, as far as the funds 
 she obtained would allow. 
 
 The need of this will be apparent when 
 it is remembered that the Government allow- 
 ance for children is only at the rate of about 
 six kopeks a day, while for their education 
 and training the state makes no provision what- 
 ever. 
 
 As to the manner of eating in the prison, 
 the prisoners are not supplied with knives or 
 forks, the only utensils allowed them being 
 wooden bowls and wooden spoons. While hav- 
 ing his private bowl, it is customary for each 
 prisoner to dip his bread into the big common 
 135 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 bowl of the mess around which all its members 
 sit, after the manner of the peasantry. 
 
 The free convicts and peasant convicts live 
 as well as the peasant class in any part of Russia, 
 and with more uniformity than they do the year 
 round. They are always protected against the 
 possibility of famines by the regularity of the 
 Government supplies of fixed rations, which are 
 distributed once a week. On my visit to their 
 cottages I found that most of the families had 
 stores in reserve, not only of such kinds as the 
 Government supplies, but of vegetables, and es- 
 pecially of potatoes, cucumbers, onions, and 
 such other things as they grow in their own 
 gardens. 
 
 The length of the winter makes provident 
 habits in these particulars very important for 
 their comfort. As there are no taverns, the con- 
 victs are wholly prohibited from indulgence 
 in drink. Nowhere else, either in the United 
 States or in any other part of the world, per- 
 haps, is the principle of prohibition in such 
 practical and effective operation as among the 
 exiles on the island of Sakhalin. 
 
 The temptations to drink are rigidly con- 
 fined to the officials, the only class on the island 
 who are without restrictions in this particular. 
 
 In most of the villages there seemed to be a 
 fair supply of milk, butter, cheese, and eggs; but, 
 136 
 
The Food of the Exiles 
 
 for natural reasons, their distribution seemed 
 to be as unequal as it would be in a free country. 
 
 Tobacco is not prohibited even in the prison, 
 but I have never seen a prisoner smoke in the 
 presence of an official, unless under very excep- 
 tional circumstances, the liberty being taken 
 only by women. Though tobacco is supplied 
 as part of the ration, smoking is allowed on cer- 
 tain days only. This is true also respecting 
 kvass, or small beer. 
 
 Almost any evening, however, in passing the 
 prison windows opening on the streets or fields, 
 the tobacco smoke, as well as the unsubdued 
 tones of the prisoners, would be strong enough 
 to compel my attention. 
 
 137 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE OCCUPATIONS OF EXILES 
 
 In my description of the Korsakoffsk pris- 
 on I have but incidentally referred to the trades 
 carried on within it. In the assignment to 
 different occupations there is a system of legal 
 limitations, which gives a certain degree of pro- 
 tection against the personal caprice of officials, 
 though in the application of all rates these des- 
 pots are allowed great latitude. 
 
 According to this system, all prisoners who 
 are nobles, and all prisoners who are classed as 
 merely political offenders, are exempt from hard 
 labour in the ordinary course. 
 
 During the first year after their arrival, cer- 
 tain of the hard-labour convicts are kept all the 
 time strictly within the prison boundaries. Dur- 
 ing the second year, if their conduct has fur- 
 nished no cause for objection, they are sent to 
 work outside the prison, but only to do what is 
 considered the worst of the hard labour in Kor- 
 sakoffsk. 
 
 Good behaviour during two years of resi- 
 
 138 
 
The Occupations of Exiles 
 
 dence in the jail makes prisoners eligible for 
 residence outside its walls, the bestowal of the 
 privilege being left entirely to the judgment of 
 the officials, who, in granting it, discriminate in 
 favour of those married prisoners whose wives 
 at home have applied for permission to join 
 them. 
 
 Such convicts, if they are skilful in any one 
 of the trades conducted within the prison, may 
 continue to work in their accustomed shop 
 there, though living in a neighbouring cottage. 
 They must, however, be found at home at cer- 
 tain hours in the evening, and strictly adhere to 
 specified regulations in every particular. 
 
 If their work justifies it, premiums are 
 awarded them, part of which may be paid them 
 monthly, the other part being placed to their 
 credit on official books, for use when, in the 
 judgment of the officials, it may be employed 
 to the best advantage of the convict and the 
 colony. 
 
 According to the system of promotion, the 
 convict may subsequently have allotted to him 
 a house and land in one of the agricultural vil- 
 lages. At such a time he may receive not only 
 the money which has accumulated to his credit, 
 but be furnished also with such cattle, imple- 
 ments, or additional money advances as may be 
 deemed necessary or expedient for the cultiva- 
 139 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 tion and improvement of his farm. Besides 
 such seeds as he may require at the start, for 
 such a period as they may be required, the 
 necessaries of Hfe, such as food and clothing, 
 are assured to him as regularly as if he were in 
 the prison, with such special privileges in the 
 matter of commutations of parts of the regula- 
 tion allowances as the varying and improved 
 conditions of his life may render expedient. 
 
 It may appear from what I have said that, as 
 the local Administration is the exile's banker 
 not only while he is a prisoner, but for some 
 time after he is a free convict, his condition 
 must have many limitations, however great his 
 success, and that the knowledge of this fact 
 must be unfavourable to the ambition of the 
 agricultural villager. 
 
 At Korsakoffsk there is a weekly market- 
 day, and from what I saw on these occasions 
 more than from what was told me on this point, 
 I judge that a good many of these agriculturists 
 had released themselves entirely from this form 
 of bondage, and were practically as free in their 
 pursuits within the locality assigned to them as 
 free peasants could be in any part of Russia. 
 
 Every week there would be drawn up in the 
 
 market-place, on either side of the street, as 
 
 many as thirty or forty double teams, and quite 
 
 a brisk trade seemed to be kept up between 
 
 140 
 
The Occupations of Exiles 
 
 their owners, much as would occur in an open 
 market-place anywhere. Horses and cattle were 
 being bought and sold by the men, and all sorts 
 of garden and dairy produce by the women. 
 Some of these people had the reputation of 
 being what there is called rich. In all their busi- 
 ness transactions there was certainly nothing to 
 indicate any difference between these people 
 and traders thousands of miles from a penal 
 colony. 
 
 Among the free convicts in Sakhalin, as 
 among groups of people everywhere who start on 
 even terms, the line of progress soon becomes 
 broken; some lag behind and others go ahead, 
 some seem made to be poor and others to be 
 rich. Some of these people whose houses I 
 visited seemed to be barely subsisting. Others 
 had several horses and a good stock of cattle, 
 and seemed thoroughly well off in every par- 
 ticular. 
 
 In my visits to the cottagers in Korsakoffsk, I 
 found that some of them who worked in the pris- 
 on took in private work also at their own homes. 
 With this and their gardens their spare hours 
 were well occupied. 
 
 Partly for my own convenience, and partly 
 
 for the opportunity of getting better acquainted 
 
 with this class, and giving some of them a slight 
 
 pecuniary lift, I hunted up a tailor, a shoemaker, 
 
 141 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 and a laundress, to each of whom I gave some 
 Httle employment. 
 
 I had an idea that they would jump at the 
 chance of earning a little silver money, that they 
 would immediately set about the work I gave 
 them and be grateful for the opportunity. 
 Truth to say, I was never more disappointed. 
 I wanted a pair of shoes heeled, and asked the 
 shoemaker to let me have them on the follow- 
 ing evening. After careful reflection he found 
 that, beginning with to-morrow, there would be 
 two Saints' days in succession, and he couldn't 
 think of commencing a new job on a Saint's 
 day. After I had waited till the fourth day, the 
 shoes were delivered. The Governor happened 
 to be in the vestibule, and, on taking a look at 
 them, he found that they were done so badly 
 that without my knowledge he made the man's 
 wife take them back to be done over again. In 
 the end I got them on the fifth day, still so badly 
 done as to be only just wearable. 
 
 I had intended to give this man about double 
 what I would have paid in New York, but 
 thought that I would pay him the compliment 
 of asking the price. He promptly spared me 
 my generosity by asking an amount which was 
 just half as much, and suggested that I might 
 add to that trifle as much as I liked. I was glad 
 of the prolonged opportunity of increasing my 
 142 
 
The Occupations of Exiles 
 
 acquaintance with him, and gave him four times 
 as much as would have been charged either in 
 London or in Paris. To my disappointment, 
 however, he did not betray the sHghtest sign of 
 either the gratitude or the pleasure which I had 
 fondly anticipated. 
 
 My laundress was of a very different type. 
 A bright, cheerful, amiable creature of about 
 forty, and full of good-humour, she seemed very 
 much delighted and flattered by my visits. 
 Hers was a story-and-a-half house of four 
 rooms. The front room was flanked by little 
 well-kept beds of flowers. There were pretty 
 boxes of flowers also in each window, and the 
 whole aspect of the cottage was so attractive 
 on the outside as to make one wish to see the 
 inside of it. Nor was I disappointed on enter- 
 ing it. Indeed, I really think that in all Russia 
 I have never seen another cottage of its size so 
 neat and clean. 
 
 Then there was a touch of humanity in this 
 cottage not often seen in the houses about Kor- 
 sakofifsk. Suspended by a cord from the free 
 end of an elastic pole was a little wooden box, 
 which was gently touched as I entered, and set 
 in an up-and-down motion. This was done to 
 keep the baby within it from being awakened 
 by our conversation. 
 
 The view from the windows was as beautiful 
 143 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 as could be found from any site in the settle- 
 ment, for the cottage was built near the prison, 
 just on the ridge of the hill crowning the settle- 
 ment, and so commanded a clear view of the ad- 
 joining valley, and across the beautiful Aniva 
 Bay. 
 
 This woman, whose husband worked in the 
 prison, appeared to be really very much pleased 
 that I had some work for her, and promised to 
 do it without delay. I supposed this meant 
 that my things would be returned to me the fol- 
 lowing evening. Nothing of the sort. It was 
 not till six days afterward that she was able to 
 finish them, though the weather was good and I 
 was her only customer. 
 
 As the laundress did not bring them herself, 
 but sent them by a little daughter, I asked 
 
 Madame S what was the greatest amount 
 
 of money I might send her. " Oh, I really don't 
 know,'' she replied. " These people are so hard 
 to deal with. It is difficult, as you have seen, 
 to get them to do anything at all. Of time they 
 have no idea. A price they will never fix, as 
 they think that they will thus be sure of getting 
 more than they could venture to ask. There is 
 one thing, however, you may be sure of. How- 
 ever much you give them, they will not be sat- 
 isfied. You certainly should not give more 
 than three roubles." So I gave four, which, 
 144 
 
The Occupations of Exiles 
 
 being in silver coin, was equal to five roubles 
 in paper. For the same Work, much better 
 done, I should not have been charged more 
 than a quarter of that sum in any part of Eu- 
 rope. Neither by word nor sign did the 
 woman show any satisfaction whatever at my 
 generosity. I have given the exact words of 
 my hostess, not only because they were in ac- 
 cord with my own subsequent experience, but 
 because she was one of the most kind and gen- 
 erous persons living, and always had a tender 
 sympathy with the unfortunates by whom she 
 was surrounded. I must confess that this expe- 
 rience revealed to me an obverse side of the life 
 here regarding the character of exiles and the 
 difficulties of the officials in dealing with them, 
 which both surprised and disappointed me. In- 
 deed, had such facts not come to my personal 
 knowledge, but been simply told me by an offi- 
 cial, I should have credited the statements to 
 official prejudice. 
 
 I am aware that it may be said that this kind 
 of apathy in convicts with which the officials 
 have to deal in their efforts to improve the ma- 
 terial condition of these people, and through 
 them to develop the resources of the country, 
 is but a natural result of the dead-weight im- 
 posed upon them by the severity of the regu- 
 lations. 
 
 145 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 Every exile is aware that the officials dare 
 not let him starve, that under all circumstances 
 they are responsible for his maintenance; hence 
 I fear that it is rather the rule than the excep- 
 tion for the convict in Sakhalin, even when free, 
 to do only as much work as is necessary to se- 
 cure to him the continuance of the privileges 
 he already possesses. This is not a distinctly 
 Russian trait. It is common to human nature 
 the world over in certain stages of civilization. 
 It seems to be cattle-nature to keep one eye on 
 the master, the other on the crib. 
 
 A certain number of exiles, manifestly of the 
 better class, seemed to have no fixed occupation 
 of any sort, but were allowed to pass their time 
 in their own way. 
 
 Small fishing companies or squads are sta- 
 tioned at different points along the coast, each of 
 them usually including from six to ten free con- 
 victs, carefully selected, I should judge, accom- 
 panied by one or two soldiers as guards. They 
 are distributed at the more favourable points, 
 where they trawl chiefly for salmon trout, which 
 are salted down in sand-pits as soon as caught, 
 and collected at intervals in barges, which are 
 towed along the coast and brought to Korsa- 
 kofTsk. 
 
 It was fortunate for me that, after his long 
 absence from the island, the Governor felt it 
 146 
 
The Occupations of Exiles 
 
 necessary that his tour of inspection should in- 
 clude all the southern part of Sakhalin, and that 
 he chose to make me his inseparable companion 
 on all these as well as on other occasions. 
 
 In this way I visited the fine parks, Tichu- 
 jenjevsk, Najbutschi, Baranofsk, and Manni 
 Muravjesk, with the twenty-eight agricultural 
 villages, containing in all about seven hundred 
 houses. 
 
 On these trips we carried with us nearly 
 everything we were likely to need for eating, 
 drinking, and sleeping, and at most of the vil- 
 lages encamped in the post-house. The only 
 place in which we received what might be called 
 entertainment, was at one of the larger villages, 
 where resided a deputy chief of police. Even 
 here, however, the best lodging they could give 
 us was a hayloft over the stable. 
 
 After the Governor had received the reports 
 at the respective places, anybody was at liberty 
 to come to consult him on any matter whatever, 
 and thus I had a remarkably good opportunity 
 of seeing the colonists of every grade and va- 
 riety. 
 
 As the Governor's visits, besides being in- 
 spectorial, were also more or less of a judicial 
 nature, I was surprised at the very few griev- 
 ances or disputes which were brought before 
 him. Such of these as were submitted he dealt 
 147 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 with rapidly and, it seemed to me, rather 
 abruptly. In cases in which a visit to a par- 
 ticular locality was necessary for a proper deci- 
 sion, however, he did not hesitate to make it, 
 reserving his verdict till afterward. 
 
 Generally speaking, the cottages were roomy 
 and well arranged, and, as all of them were com- 
 paratively new and some scarcely finished, each 
 settlement bore the appearance of being what 
 it was a model village of model houses accord- 
 ing to plans most carefully prepared by the chief 
 of the Agricultural Department. 
 
 These villages were decidedly superior to 
 many of the new settlements seen on the west- 
 ern prairies of America, and to almost any of 
 the villages in other parts of the Russian Em- 
 pire. 
 
 Here, as everywhere in similar latitudes, 
 there is but little to envy in the life of the settler, 
 except to such as like it. It seemed to me that 
 the worst feature inseparable from the life of 
 these people was not the hardness of the work, 
 but the forced idleness to which they are 
 doomed during the many months of winter. 
 
 More interesting to me, and much more ro- 
 mantic, were our inspection visits to the various 
 little fishing stations along the south and east 
 coast of the island, already referred to in this 
 chapter. These were made in the Governor's 
 148 
 
The Occupations of Exiles 
 
 steam launch, which was always well provi- 
 sioned. 
 
 Our first trip was rather a long one, for, 
 though we started about nine o'clock in the 
 morning, it was nearly four when, arriving at 
 a very pretty Httle cove, we ran the launch about 
 two hundred yards up a small stream and alight- 
 ed at our destination. This spot was a veritable 
 jungle of wild flowers an almost impenetrable 
 cane-brake. 
 
 Near the bank of the stream was a low hut 
 of pine branches. To the west there was not 
 another human dwelling between it and Korsa- 
 koffsk. To the east and north, not one for over 
 two hundred miles. That lonely hut was occu- 
 pied by six murderers and one soldier, who with 
 his loaded rifle was in sole charge of them. The 
 hut was divided by a mud wall into a lesser and 
 greater compartment. I found that the lesser, 
 into which our traps were taken, was for the 
 Governor and myself; the other and larger one 
 for the convicts and the soldier. 
 
 The Governor ordered them to catch us 
 some fish, and in lively fashion their little boats, 
 which had been hauled up for the evening, were 
 shoved ofif. The net was cast about thirty yards 
 away, and, though it was drawn to shore again 
 immediately, it took three barrels to contain 
 the haul of salmon-trout that was made. To 
 149 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 say that the water was solid with fish would be 
 untrue; but it swarmed with such shoals of 
 them, that the order to get some was given and 
 obeyed with as much confidence as if it had re- 
 lated to some chicken in a coop, instead of to 
 fishes in the sea. 
 
 By the time the fish were landed, one of the 
 men had built up a fire on the beach, and in 
 very short order half a dozen skewered fish were 
 grilling for our dinner. Large, flat sea-shells 
 did duty as plates, and, with the liquid adjuncts 
 we had brought with us, our al fresco repast was 
 as enjoyable as it was primitive. 
 
 In the hut the Governor and I bunked to- 
 gether in the best of all beds a magnificent 
 heap of fragrant pine leaves. Before going to 
 sleep, the Governor showed so very much care 
 about the handy position of his revolver and 
 sabre, that I had a strong suspicion that he was 
 glad of my company, and that alone he would 
 hardly have ventured on such a visit. With two 
 murderers I think I should have felt easy es- 
 pecially as we had the arms and they had none; 
 but when six such fellows were restlessly whis- 
 pering to each other in another corner of the 
 same hut during half the night, as in this case 
 they did, I think I may as well confess that my 
 slumbers were very fitful. The Governor fared 
 but little better. Of this I am quite sure. 
 150 
 
The Occupations of Exiles 
 
 I lost no time after daybreak in exploring 
 the surroundings. This inlet was the most 
 warm and luxuriant little nook I had found on 
 the island. The dense thicket of grapes, flow- 
 ers, and bamboo was six or seven feet high. 
 At a little distance along the bank of the stream, 
 I met with one of the most beautiful surprises 
 the island had afforded me. Perched on a twig 
 overhanging the stream, and only a few yards 
 beyond me, sat an exquisitely bright kingfisher, 
 its gorgeous plumage gleaming and scintillating 
 in the morning sun. 
 
 Whether I ought to have been so much as- 
 tonished as I was, at seeing this phenomenon 
 in such a latitude, I must leave to the naturalists 
 to whom the ways of this bird are more familiar. 
 
 The duty of the fishing stations is to supply 
 salted fish, first of all in quantity sufficient for 
 a pack of about three or four hundred dogs, 
 which live upon it principally during the sum- 
 mer, and exclusively during the long winter. 
 As the dog sleighs are the only postal vehicles 
 practicable during these long months, the dogs 
 are of great importance on the island, and the 
 bulk of food required for them in a single year 
 is enormous. 
 
 Then fish, especially fish soup, is a part of 
 the standard prison diet, as we have seen. 
 
 To the persons who are accustomed to as- 
 151 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 sume that under the Siberian, and especially the 
 Sakhalin regime, the treatment of exiles and 
 convicts is invariably of the most rigidly severe, 
 if not of the most cruel character, it may come 
 almost as a disappointment, and certainly as a 
 surprise, to hear of such fishing stations as that 
 I have just described. When it is remembered 
 that this station, like the others, is situated just 
 where trading and whaling vessels to and from 
 Kamchatka pass in full sight; that these robust 
 convict fishermen had two good boats, and that 
 there was but one soldier there between six 
 murderers and escape; that for weeks and weeks 
 together they led this picnic life, free to scheme 
 and plot, their position suggests either inexcus- 
 able laxity and mismanagement, or the exist- 
 ence of a mutual confidence between the con- 
 victs and the officials which was highly credit- 
 able to both. 
 
 Our inspections were very various, and took 
 us in every possible direction. The hospital 
 inspection occurred regularly every Sunday 
 morning. One day we would visit the dog ken- 
 nels, another day a brickyard, where are made 
 the bricks for chimneys and heating-flues. Un- 
 expectedly we would drop in at various private 
 houses of convicts and leave suggestions for 
 their improvement, take a look at harvesting op- 
 erations, or visit the saw-mills, which are built 
 152 
 
LIBRA; 
 ^^"^"or THE 
 
 of 
 
 CALIF- 
 
The Occupations of Exiles 
 
 on running streams, whose power is utilized for 
 roughly cutting up forest timber. 
 
 The fishing inspections were the least fatigu- 
 ing, and more than once the Governor would 
 make these an opportunity for a pleasant outing 
 to some of his neighbours. 
 
 From many instances which came under my 
 personal observation, I am compelled to admit 
 that the tendency of the ofificials appeared to me 
 to act very considerately and sympathetically 
 towards the unfortunates under their charge. It 
 frequently happened in the course of my walks 
 or drives with an official that we would come 
 across one of these persons strolHng abroad, 
 most frequently on the sea-shore, and if I was 
 supposed not to have observed this man before, 
 my companion would give me some account of 
 his history, in which, without one exception, so 
 far as I can remember, his crime would be men- 
 tioned rather as a misfortune, while any special 
 merit or skill which he possessed, and for which 
 he had perhaps been distinguished, would be 
 mentioned not only in a generous spirit, but al- 
 most with the same sort of local pride as is mani- 
 fested in a provincial American town when a 
 passer-by is pointed out as " one of our leading 
 citizens." It may be said, however, that when 
 one of these persons is systematically insubor- 
 dinate and troublesome, his conduct is resented 
 153 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 with a firm hand, all the more so because of 
 what the official must feel to be the undeserved 
 personal ingratitude and indignity displayed 
 towards himself. 
 
 From what I saw, I am convinced that it is 
 far too common for an exile smarting under 
 what he feels to be an unjust sentence, to visit 
 his resentment upon his overseer, who has noth- 
 ing whatever to do with it, and so to force the 
 overseer in his own defence into a course of con- 
 duct which, from the standpoint of the political, 
 might be designated as cruelty. 
 
 154 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 WOMEN EXILES, MARRIAGE PROBLEMS, AND 
 COLONIZATION 
 
 As there is but one woman to about every 
 eight men in SakhaHn, and as the female ele- 
 ment is such an essential feature in the success- 
 ful establishment of the agricultural villages to 
 which the Administration chiefly looks for the 
 development and prosperity of the country, 
 women are treated with a degree of considera- 
 tion which otherwise might be considered 
 greater than the mere factor of sex could ren- 
 der just or expedient. 
 
 I have referred to the occupations in the 
 prison workshops. The work given the hard- 
 labour convicts in the shops for females is sim- 
 ply that of seamstresses, and it is a very unusual 
 thing indeed for any one of them to remain there 
 for the full probationary term. The Administra- 
 tion, having in view the Imperial Government's 
 plans for the settlement of the country, is much 
 more anxious to place them out of prison than 
 to keep them in it. 
 
 155 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 It is from the prison probationers alone that 
 domestic servants can be obtained. Either di- 
 rectly from the prison or from domestic service, 
 they may form an alliance akin to concubinage, 
 though, if the ceremony can be legally per- 
 formed, marriage is encouraged. It is said that 
 priests in Sakhalin will not perform the marriage 
 ceremony until they are satisfied that the condi- 
 tions are strictly in accordance with ecclesias- 
 tical and civil law in the case of each applicant; 
 therefore legal marriages in Sakhalin are some- 
 what restricted. As regards concubinage, I got 
 the impression that the Administration inter- 
 feres as little as possible with any private ar- 
 rangement, or change of arrangement, which 
 any two or four persons of the two sexes may 
 mutually and amicably make. What I have 
 since learned proves that this impression was not 
 wholly mistaken, for of three hundred and eight 
 births in 1890, forty per cent had to be recorded 
 as illegitimate. 
 
 Whether from policy or from gallantry I will 
 not pretend to say, but it is certainly true that 
 nothing insures for a female convict so much 
 and such certain consideration and immunity as 
 the accident of her sex. On the march to Sibe- 
 ria a woman can always claim a place in a telega 
 if she prefers riding to walking. Though she 
 be condemned for murder to hard labour for 
 
 156 
 
Women Exiles 
 
 life in Sakhalin, the severest punishment im- 
 posed upon her even during the period of pris- 
 on probation is that of a seamstress in the fe- 
 male department of the prison workshop; and, 
 as it is from these women alone that the families 
 on the island can obtain the necessary domes- 
 tics, it rests chiefly with themselves, in the mat- 
 ter of good conduct, how quickly they quit 
 prison, for the employment department has 
 more 'applications for domestics than it is able to 
 meet. 
 
 Still greater, however, is the demand for 
 these persons in the numerous agricultural vil- 
 lages. This brings me to an aspect of penal 
 life in Sakhalin which is very delicate and com- 
 plicated, and one that I can hardly pretend to 
 describe with sufficient accuracy to be thorough- 
 ly just to all concerned. Suffice it to say that 
 female convicts who do not become engaged in 
 domestic service are, sooner or later, in one way 
 or another, either joined by husbands who be- 
 come voluntary exiles for the purpose; form 
 marriage alliances with male convicts; or, where 
 this is for some reason or other legally impossi- 
 ble, settle down, I believe, in some sort of con- 
 cubinage with free convicts. Of well-conducted 
 female convicts it may be truthfully said that 
 their special career is largely of their own choos- 
 ing, and that, while the condition of most of 
 157 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 them is at least as comfortable in Sakhalin as it 
 was before they were sent there, with a large 
 number it is more comfortable and promising 
 than any condition they had previously known, 
 or had ever thought to attain. 
 
 The marriage question in Sakhalin is hard 
 to be understood. No better evidence of this 
 can be offered than the crude remarks to be 
 found in almost any book in the English lan- 
 guage on the Siberian exile question, even by 
 writers who have themselves been in Siberia. 
 The only inference to be drawn from the state- 
 ments made in these books is that committal 
 to Siberia means a complete revocation of all 
 marital claims and obligations, so that both hus- 
 band and wife, wherever they may be, are as if 
 they had never been married; that, in other 
 words, in this as in all other respects the prisoner 
 sentenced to exile is, in the eye of the law, as 
 one upon whom has been passed and executed 
 the sentence of death. 
 
 As a broad principle, this is practically true, 
 but the inference and impressions which such 
 statements, made without proper qualification, 
 give rise to, are in some important particulars 
 incorrect. 
 
 It is not at all strange that these false impres- 
 sions should be so general outside Russia, see- 
 ing that among the Russians themselves there 
 
 158 
 
Women Exiles 
 
 are very few, indeed, even of those immediately 
 concerned, to whom the laws on this question 
 in their technical application are ever known. 
 
 In the eye of the law, and in the practice of 
 the Greek or National Church, the mere fact 
 of exile does not absolve the criminal from his 
 matrimonial bond. The husband or wife, who 
 in consequence of a sentence of exile is left be- 
 hind, may, however, by legal process especially 
 provided, apply on this account for its dissolu- 
 tion: In such a case the reason is deemed 
 valid, and a decree of dissolution may, in the dis- 
 cretion of the court, be granted. It. is unneces- 
 sary to remark that in such proceedings the 
 exile has no voice, and is regarded as " non 
 est " that is, as being really dead. But it is of 
 very rare occurrence that the married person 
 left behind becomes aware of this legal techni- 
 cality. 
 
 If the exile himself discovers it, his knowl- 
 edge is probably first gained from the priest, 
 whose aid he invokes to unite him in marriage 
 to another exile. He then finds his position a 
 very perplexing one, for I know that in Sakhalin 
 the priest will not perform the ceremony in such 
 a case without documentary evidence that the 
 person left behind has taken advantage of the 
 provision of the law, and obtained a legal disso- 
 lution or divorce. 
 
 159 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 Supposing the exile to be a husband, it is 
 a very delicate matter for him to explain the sit- 
 uation to his distant wife, and to induce her to 
 go through the legal process he may indicate, 
 and to forward to him the documentary evi- 
 dence which may enable him to marry the exiled 
 woman who is her rival. Indeed, if he wrote 
 his wife a letter to that effect, he would not be 
 at all sure that the Governor would allow it to be 
 forwarded. 
 
 If, on the other hand, he should write his 
 wife a glowing account of his present situation 
 and prospects as a free convict, and urge her to 
 take advantage of the government provision by 
 which she and all their family may join him in 
 his new home at government expense, his com- 
 munication would be sure to reach her, for the 
 Administration wants all the free colonists in 
 Sakhalin who can be induced to come. 
 
 In 1890 there were said to be in the island 
 as many as thirty-three hundred and one volun- 
 tary exiles brought there at government ex- 
 pense, all of whom had chosen to become set- 
 tlers themselves, in order to join a condemned 
 relative. 
 
 Far be it from me to ascribe any part of this 
 
 heroic immigration to the general ignorance of 
 
 the laws of which I have spoken, but I know 
 
 that some of the officials think that, in the very 
 
 160 
 
Women Exiles 
 
 dubious condition of those left behind, this ig- 
 norance makes it easier for them to cast in their 
 lot promptly with the exiled one. 
 
 It might be imagined that only women and 
 wives would have the affection, devotion, and 
 heroism necessary for such splendid sacrifice 
 on behalf of another. And I must confess that 
 I was myself greatly astonished to find that, of 
 the total number of persons who thus came vol- 
 untarily to Sakhalin in 1890, as many as seven 
 hundred and seventy were men who came to 
 join exiled wives; while only thirty-eight were 
 women, who came to share the lot of exiled 
 husbands. 
 
 This fact was a great shock to my previous 
 notions of the relative devotion of the two sexes 
 in Russia; but it is only fair to say, on behalf of 
 the women, that in the case of the men there 
 are various items which might be regarded as 
 possible offsets to their greater apparent gal- 
 lantry and devotion. 
 
 All such male immigrants have a distinct po- 
 sition, and form the class defined as agricultural 
 peasants. They are exempt from the ordinary 
 police surveillance; each of them obtains a spe- 
 cial grant of land, and is supplied with agricul- 
 tural implements; he is aided also as regards 
 clothing, government rations, or a money allow- 
 ance at a fixed rate per head for his family, 
 '3 161 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 The system under which he comes is really 
 a sort of " State-aided emigration." Presum- 
 ably these immigrants better themselves in 
 every practical way by coming to Sakhalin, so 
 long as they are superior to the mere senti- 
 ment pertaining to compulsory residence where 
 the change may be wholly to their advantage. 
 
 But what about the vastly larger proportion 
 of free convicts who, though married, are not 
 thus joined by faithful conjugal partners? What 
 about the many of both sexes whom, for legal 
 reasons existing on the one side or on the other, 
 the priest cannot consent to join together in 
 matrimony called '' holy "? 
 
 The Administration will not assign a house 
 and land to a free convict woman if she is alone. 
 A man is not of much use occupying a house 
 and land if he is single and alone. The Admin- 
 istration knows and appreciates the facts, and 
 in them lies one of the most delicate and per- 
 plexing of the many problems connected with 
 the agricultural colonization of the island, the 
 kind of colonization regarded by the Adminis- 
 tration as perhaps its supreme reliance for the 
 permanent development of the colony. 
 
 In this perplexing condition of things, it 
 
 may be asked, What does the Administration 
 
 do? So far as I could ascertain, it does under 
 
 these very exceptional conditions neither more 
 
 162 
 
Women Exiles 
 
 nor less than some European and American 
 states do under conditions much more fa- 
 vourable. 
 
 It endeavours to prevent men and women 
 from breaking the local laws, but I think that it 
 does not consider it within its power or prov- 
 ince to compel men and women to be moral, 
 according to the interpretation of the church. 
 Among these preponderating numbers of men 
 and women legally unmarriageable, alliances are 
 inevitably formed. So far as my personal ob- 
 servation among them went, I got the impres- 
 sion that prostitution, however, is a rare excep- 
 tion. Indeed, with the rigid police surveillance 
 which exists even in the agricultural villages as 
 regards hours, etc., irregularities of living are 
 almost impossible. The only courses open to 
 these people with immunity are celibacy or con- 
 cubinage, and the latter appeared to me to be 
 not uncommon. This was only my impression, 
 however, and may be incorrect. These alliances 
 are maintained in a manner which is outwardly, 
 at least, just as orderly and well regulated 
 as where the couples are lawfully married. I 
 need not remark that concubinage is notorious- 
 ly less prolific than legal marriage, for reasons 
 which it is not necessary to enumerate. Yet, 
 it is from these alliances that about forty per 
 cent of the total number of births on the island 
 163 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 come, while the number of persons Hving in 
 concubinage is at least equal to the number of 
 those living in lawful marriage. 
 
 This condition of affairs struck me as one 
 of the most startling facts which I encountered 
 in Sakhalin. There must be many who natu- 
 rally share my impression, and of these I would 
 simply ask, What would be your remedy? Not 
 under other conditions, but under those I have 
 described as actually existing in Sakhalin? 
 
 I think it is a common impression that Rus- 
 sian women, especially of the lower orders, do 
 not expect to be treated with much affection 
 even by men who are their own lawful hus- 
 bands, and that marriage itself is generally de- 
 termined chiefly by mutual convenience. The 
 correctness of this impression I am not at all 
 inclined to dispute. I was daily entering the 
 houses of married couples and of couples living 
 in concubinage, but, except in a few instances, 
 I never could pretend to detect any sign of dif- 
 ference between them as to domestic manners 
 or general demeanour. 
 
 From what I saw and from what I was told, 
 however, I judged that the unmarried couples 
 frequently took advantage of the looseness of 
 their bonds, and that the envies and jealousies 
 so apt to be incident to such conditions occa- 
 sionally led to some little shuffling and fresh 
 164 
 
Women Exiles 
 
 dealing of the social pack. The discarding part 
 is sometimes done in a manner almost tragic. 
 On one occasion I was spending a few days on 
 a visit to the chief of police of one of the larger 
 districts in the interior of Sakhalin. His house 
 was in the centre of one of the more prosperous 
 of the agricultural villages, the houses of the 
 free convicts stretching right and left of him, on 
 either side of the road, in one long, broad street. 
 
 After our two o'clock dinner, I took a stroll 
 alone about the village, dropping in here and 
 there at different cottages, and thinking to 
 break the monotony of the poor people's lives 
 by an unexpected courteous and friendly visit. 
 
 One of these houses interested me more 
 than any of the others had done as soon as I 
 entered, on account of the more orderly ar- 
 rangement of the furniture. Though built on 
 the same plan, it appeared to be larger than 
 the others. The outbuildings seemed better 
 stocked with cattle, the yard more tidy, and 
 signs of prosperity abounded in every part of 
 the establishment to an unusual degree. Still 
 more, the mistress of the house, who was the 
 only person at home, was distinctly attractive. 
 She looked to be about thirty-five, and excep- 
 tionally robust, with a bright colour in her 
 cheeks and a still brighter light in her eyes. 
 She exhibited what one rarely sees in these exile 
 
 165 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 women a half-concealed inclination to be co- 
 quettish. Moreover, she seemed to feel hon- 
 oured by the unexpected event of a visit from 
 a foreign gentleman whom she knew to be a 
 guest of the chief of police. She certainly did 
 her best to make my call agreeable. 
 
 With manifest pride in the bread and butter 
 of her own making, she quickly laid a little 
 cloth and placed them before me, with a pitcher 
 of fresh milk from her little dairy. In return 
 I emptied my case of cigarettes, as I knew that 
 she would appreciate these more than any- 
 thing else I was able to ofifer. In the evening, 
 on recounting some of the incidents of my after- 
 noon visits, I particularly emphasized to the 
 chief the comparative superiority of this woman 
 and her housekeeping, regarding which he 
 seemed to agree with me. 
 
 The day after my return to KorsakofTsk a 
 telegram was received, from which it appeared 
 that, at the very time I was being thus enter- 
 tained by this woman, her paramour, with 
 whom she had lived for years in concubinage, 
 was being distributed in different parts of the 
 forest beyond her back garden. 
 
 Had I looked closely enough at the time of 
 my calling on her, I might perhaps have per- 
 ceived that the black dirt under one or more of 
 her finger-nails was streaked with red, that on 
 i66 
 
Women Exiles 
 
 the log walls of the room there were some dingy 
 remains of doubtful-looking splashes which a 
 good deal of water had not quite removed; that 
 the floor, which had at first struck me as so ex- 
 ceptionally clean, had large patches of a rust- 
 coloured stain, and that the joints of its rough 
 planking were exceedingly wet. 
 
 From the facts that came to my knowledge 
 in Korsakoffsk, I learned that on the evening 
 preceding my call upon her, this woman Lo- 
 banoff had prepared for her paramour, with 
 whom she had so long been living, an unusually 
 good and savoury supper, of which he had eaten 
 freely on his return from the forest, where he 
 had been working. His enjoyment of it had 
 been all the greater because he had found that 
 his favourite knife had been so beautifully sharp- 
 ened that, as he remarked, '' it cut like a razor.'* 
 These facts were elicited from the evening po- 
 lice patrol, who on their rounds conversed with 
 him and afterward saw him sleeping in his chair. 
 It appears that immediately after they had 
 passed, this pleasing woman swept the newly 
 sharpened knife across his throat with such vig- 
 our that he never awoke or knew what had hap- 
 pened to him. She then carefully hacked. the 
 corpse into very small pieces, placed them in a 
 sack, and at dead of night carried them through 
 her back garden to the adjacent forest, distrib- 
 167 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 uting the pieces in such a way that the hungry 
 wolves which infested that region would be sure 
 to carry them off before daybreak, beyond pos- 
 sible discovery. 
 
 These facts this charming assassin afterward 
 acknowledged with cool indifference to my 
 friend the chief of police. At the time of my 
 call upon her nobody had inquired after the 
 murdered man. As he had been engaged in 
 chopping wood all alone in the same part of the 
 forest to which . his quivering fragments had 
 since been carried, and had gone and returned 
 by the same back-garden path, there had been 
 no reason why his neighbours should either 
 have seen him or missed him. 
 
 A few hours after my call upon the Loba- 
 noff woman, and at about the time when I was 
 talking to my host in her praise, she heard that 
 tap on the shutter which marks the nightly 
 visit of the police patrol, and to which she re- 
 sponded without delay. 
 
 Instead of revealing the terror she must have 
 felt, this woman gaily upbraided the patrol for 
 making so much noise when her man, as they 
 could see, was not only in bed, but fast asleep. 
 This wonderful self-control and cleverness, 
 backed by the dummy in the bed, which under 
 the circumstances they did not venture to dis- 
 turb, caused the patrol to make their accus- 
 i68 
 
Women Exiles 
 
 tomed mark opposite the name of Lobanoff and 
 her paramour, showing that at the time they 
 called at the house both were present. For two 
 days more in succession did Lobanoff practise 
 her cajolery and delusion upon the credulous 
 watch. 
 
 When confronted with proofs, instead of 
 relenting, she suddenly assumed an injured and 
 defiant air, and, as if proud of her superior 
 cleverness, boastingly made the confession of 
 which I have given the substance. She said that 
 she had murdered the man because she had 
 grown tired of him, and that, as she had another 
 one whom she liked better and who was ready 
 to take his place, the police need not trouble, 
 themselves. Everything could go on as before, 
 only much better. 
 
 What sort of justice was meted out to this 
 woman Lobanoff I will discuss later on. Suffice 
 it to say, for the moment, that for being such 
 easy victims of this woman's wiles, both the po- 
 licemen on the night patrol received a punish- 
 ment which was altogether greater than that 
 meted out to this practised, cold-blooded mur- 
 deress. This last crime was her third murder 
 but she was a woman, and a pleasing one, espe- 
 cially to the officials and to the persons whom 
 she made her victims. 
 
 When all these incidents in her confession 
 169 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 were told me in Korsakoflfsk, and I thought of 
 the personal relation in which I had stood to 
 them, I was positively chilled by the reminis- 
 cence; nor can I even now avoid shivering as I 
 recall the shocking incidents. 
 
 " Have you seen ' la Belle Femme ' yet? " 
 officers were daily asking me during my first 
 week or two in Korsakoffsk. As we were sail- 
 ing out in the bay, one of them pointed to a dis- 
 tant house beyond the first hill from the shore, 
 and exclaimed: '' There! there you see the house 
 of our ' belle femme! ' " " Run to the window, 
 quick! " said a certain lady to me one morning 
 as I was at breakfast, " do you see her? There 
 she goes! that is the noted Beauty of Korsa- 
 koff sk! She is said to be the most beautiful 
 woman in all the island of Sakhalin." 
 
 An officer from a distant post was on an 
 official visit to KorsakofTsk, and, as the resident 
 officers were intent on making his visit as agree- 
 able as they could, their mess dinners during his 
 stay were the occasion of a little extra jollifi- 
 cation. 
 
 After one of these simple but lively repasts, 
 at which I also was present, it was proposed that, 
 as the day was so fine, we should all take a drive, 
 in the course of which they would call and intro- 
 duce me to " la belle femme," of whom they had 
 so often spoken, but whose face I had never yet 
 170 
 
Women Exiles 
 
 seen. Among themselves they called her 
 '' Sara." 
 
 Taking a road leading along a valley to the 
 northeast, one of the only two roads which led 
 from Korsakofifsk, and the only one going di- 
 rectly inland, the whole party of us started off 
 like soldiers out for a holiday, all three droschkis 
 racing each other to see which of us should be 
 the first to salute the wonderful creature of 
 whom I had so long been hearing. 
 
 By what appeared to me an accident of 
 courtesy, the visiting major, who was also the 
 ranking ofBcer present, had the fastest horses, 
 and he took a wild delight in showing me how 
 recklessly he could drive, and how far we could 
 leave the others behind. 
 
 On the right of the road, about three miles 
 out, we reined up at the respectable-looking 
 gates of a solid and unusually high fence, which 
 completely inclosed what seemed to be a good- 
 sized farm-house, with yard and outbuildings. 
 My friend the major, who sprang from the 
 droschki in order to win the first prize, found, to 
 his evident chagrin and disappointment, that the 
 gates were barred. 
 
 After knocking several times, we heard a 
 
 merry laugh from within, the meaning of which 
 
 seemed to be that Sara was at home, but not 
 
 to us for the present, and that we must wait. A 
 
 171 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 few minutes after the others had come up, and 
 all had hitched their horses, the wooden bar was 
 pulled back, the gate was opened, and behold, 
 the belle of Sakhalin stood before us! 
 
 She greeted us in a way that showed that, 
 like England, she expected every man to do his 
 duty, and, so far as her Russian friends were 
 concerned, she had no reason to feel disappoint- 
 ed in their salutations. As there were several 
 lively young heifers in the yard, the gates were 
 quickly closed behind us, and the house was 
 taken possession of, as if by rollicking school- 
 boys. 
 
 There was plenty of milk, bread and butter, 
 and everybody helped himself as if he were an 
 old and privileged friend. Our unexpected visit 
 had surprised her at a moment when she could 
 not see others even of such importance as our- 
 selves. I think there was a back gate. She 
 was evidently not only surprised but embar- 
 rassed, and perhaps for sufficient reason. Sara 
 greatly interested me. The impressions she 
 'made upon me were surprise, admiration, and 
 deep repulsion. I think that she was about the 
 wildest, most generous and handsome animal I 
 had ever encountered. 
 
 She was tall, of perfect proportion, and, al- 
 though over thirty, as lithe as a cat. Her face 
 was an elongated oval, with a faultlessly Grecian 
 172 
 
Women Exiles 
 
 nose. Her complexion was mellow, warm, 
 clear, like a dark, full-ripened peach. She had 
 a wonderful wealth of dark hair, and eye-brows 
 to match. Her profile was thoroughly distin- 
 guished, but her principal attraction and power 
 lay in her eyes. It was not only in their excep- 
 tional largeness, nor in the graceful sweep of her 
 long eye-lashes, but chiefly, I think, in the mar- 
 vellous brilliancy which the lashes veiled. In 
 this particular I think I have never seen their 
 equal. When she laughed, however, and dis- 
 played her black and broken teeth, my only 
 feeling was entire repulsion. This defect, to me 
 so shocking, would be entirely unnoticed, how- 
 ever, by my friends of Sakhalin, where, in the 
 total absence of dentists, nearly every adult 
 mouth is a scene of neglect. Though there was 
 no attempt at concealment, I did not see all that 
 passed, and so even if I would I could not de- 
 scribe it. 
 
 There were two good-looking children in 
 the house, of whom it was simply known that 
 Sara was their mother. In a room ofif the kitch- 
 en I espied behind a door the overcoat of a po- 
 liceman, belonging, as I afterward learned, to 
 the man who was her present husband, so to 
 speak. 
 
 Both the farm-yard and the house were well 
 stocked, and in every way it was evident that 
 173 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 Sara was not only prosperous, but comparatively 
 rich in her own right. I had no doubt but that 
 this wild, untamed beauty could have and do al- 
 most anything her caprice might dictate, and 
 that scarcely any officer in Korsakoffsk could 
 command greater influence or immunity in case 
 of need. 
 
 By birth Sara was a Circassian gipsy. She 
 became the favourite mistress of a prince in the 
 Caucasus, whom she murdered in favour of one 
 of his enamoured rivals. For this and other 
 wanton crimes of a similar nature she was finally 
 exiled to Sakhalin. It was evident, however, 
 that her wild caprices were still untamed, and 
 that the career of which one shuddered to think 
 was perhaps even yet far ipom its termination. 
 
 As we were driving home, I remarked to one 
 of my friends that, while they were in a certain 
 apartment, I had seen some man disappearing 
 into one of her back rooms. To this the officer 
 replied, " Oh, yes, trust him; he knows well 
 enough when to keep out of the way." 
 
 All that I learned regarding the punishments 
 of women can be given in a few words. The 
 mere accident of sex gives every wc^nan pretty 
 nearly the same general exemption as a title of 
 nobility gives a man. For special crimes com- 
 mitted in Sakhalin women may be sentenced to 
 special punishments, but, if the sentences are 
 174 
 
Women Exiles 
 
 carried out at all, it is with so much considera- 
 tion as to amount to little more than a formality. 
 
 I think it would be strictly within the facts 
 if I should say, that for fresh crimes in Sakha- 
 lin, if committed by women, there is scarcely 
 even a pretence at the administration of justice. 
 
 I have given an account of the remarkably 
 cold-blooded and atrocious third murder com- 
 mitted by the woman Lobanofif, who enter- 
 tained me in the very room in which a few hours 
 before she had committed the tragic butchery. 
 As my unpleasant association with this case 
 naturally gave me a keen interest in everything 
 incident to the punishment of the murderess, I 
 lost no opportunity of questioning officers as 
 to the progress of the prosecution and its 
 results. 
 
 Three days after the discovery and confes- 
 sion, I remarked to the chief of the Korsakoffsk 
 police that I was surprised that Lobanoff had 
 not yet arrived at the prison, and asked him 
 what course was to be taken, and when she 
 would be tried. Would she be flogged, or tried 
 by court-martial and hanged? Note his an- 
 swer: 
 
 " My dear sir, what can we do with a 
 woman? There's no place for her in the Kor- 
 sakoffsk prison, and if there were, what good 
 would it be to take her there? Only extra cost 
 175 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 to the Administration. You know as well as I 
 do that we can't flog a woman. She is not a 
 subject for a court-martial, so she can't be 
 hanged." 
 
 " Well," I said, " you will certainly have to 
 do something with her. When will she be 
 tried? " 
 
 " What's the good of going to the trouble 
 of a trial? She has confessed everything, and 
 boasts of it all. A trial would be a mere farce 
 under such circumstances." 
 
 " But where is she now at this moment? " 
 
 " Why, at home where else would she be? 
 Don't you think that's the best place for her? " 
 
 There she remained, and the rival of the 
 murdered man soon reigned in his stead. 
 
 I have given this particular case in detail, 
 partly because of my close personal acquaint- 
 ance with it, and partly because I think that it 
 covers fairly well some others which I know 
 only by report. I was told that cases of this 
 type, both as to the cause of the crime and the 
 immunity from punishment, were not very in- 
 frequent in Sakhalin, and I almost regretted 
 that in such instances women should not get 
 the rights to which their equality with men en- 
 titles them. 
 
 For the larger part, the faces of these exile 
 women are heavy and hard, bjank and impas- 
 176 
 
Women Exiles 
 
 sive; if at all positive, they are sullen and resent- 
 ful. By thirty or thirty-five they are pretty sure 
 to be minus several front teeth, which are never 
 replaced. This latter condition in some degree 
 belongs not only to both sexes, but to all classes 
 in Sakhalin. In no part of the world have I 
 been so deeply taught by contrast to appreciate 
 the amount of personal comeliness which mod- 
 ern society owes to the artful implements of 
 skilful dentistry. 
 
 While on the subject of female beauty, or 
 rather ugliness, among the exile women in Sak- 
 halin, I may remark that, with the exception of 
 the two wanton assassins I have mentioned, few 
 other instances occur to me in which any one of 
 the women had any excuse for the slightest per- 
 sonal vanity. Much worse than their features, 
 however, is their expression. I think I can re- 
 call about four faces of women and ten faces of 
 men of this lower convict class in all Sakhalin in 
 which I have seen a little light relieving and off- 
 setting the predominant shade. 
 
 If from one of these unfortunate creatures 
 you happened to hear a pleasant and cheerful 
 word, it seemed to come through them, not 
 from them, the expression of the face, like that 
 of a ventriloquist, being rigidly at variance with 
 the words uttered. 
 
 It is not only because of the regulation that 
 
 4 177 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 convicts in Sakhalin, as elsewhere, do not look 
 at the person to whom they speak, but for a 
 deeper reason; and every part of the person, 
 every attitude and motion, come to be uncon- 
 sciously expressive of their condition and grade. 
 
 In these unfortunates the more conspicuous 
 personal features are: stooping shoulders, droop- 
 ing head, mouth drawn down, restless eyes 
 which seem to see not, ears which seem to hear 
 not, arms limp, hands with the open fingers 
 hanging by their own weight pendant by the 
 side, a gait which is loose, shufBing, purpose- 
 less all suggestive of beings who are dead as to 
 purpose, though still animate. 
 
 A native Siberian has no need to ask a 
 stranger or a night beggar whether he is a Rus- 
 sian or not. In such old convicts the features, 
 attitudes, motions, have become almost as 
 marked, quite as indelible as some of those 
 which distinguish a distinct nationality or a dif- 
 ferent race. 
 
 In Europe and in America, over and over 
 again, detectives have told me that they know at 
 once if a stranger is an old jail-bird the moment 
 they set eyes on him, whatever may be his dis- 
 guise. This is one of the things most detectives 
 are apt to be conceited about. Ask one of them, 
 however, how he knows, and with a complacent 
 smile his instructive answer will be: "Ah! now 
 
 178 
 
Women Exiles 
 
 you've got me. I can't tell you what it is, but 
 I know it the minute I see it." 
 
 It may be true, as alleged, that some of these 
 acquired criminal marks and mannerisms are 
 even transmitted to posterity. By those who 
 believe this, instances are easily discoverable. 
 The Sakhalin peculiarities of expression are 
 rather due to a purposeless, hopeless apathy. 
 
 179 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE KNOUT, ITS USE AND EFFECTS 
 
 The resources of the Administration in the 
 matter of additional punishments for local 
 crimes are exceedingly limited. 
 
 These consist in bad-character marks, with 
 prolonged prison residence in accordance with 
 them; diet punishments; chains, particularly 
 leg-chains and manacles; assignment to a chain- 
 gang when engaged in quarrying, road-making, 
 or other work outside the prison; and perhaps 
 the attachment of one end of the prisoner's chain 
 to his wheel-barrow. 
 
 For crimes of extreme gravity there are two 
 other forms of punishment. The first of these 
 is whipping and flogging. This, if by the knout, 
 can only be inflicted after a special criminal 
 process of law and a sentence of the court to 
 that effect, also a medical examination and re- 
 affirmation of sentence within eight hours of its 
 execution. The birch can be ordered by the 
 Governor at any time. The second punishment 
 I scarcely ought to include, as, according to 
 i8o 
 
The Knout, Its Use and Effects 
 
 Russian law, it is not within the power of any 
 ordinary legal tribunal to order or to inflict it. 
 I refer to hanging and shooting. 
 
 It is within the power of the ordinary court 
 of law to find a true bill of high treason against 
 a criminal. In that case the prisoner may be re- 
 tried by court-martial, and this court, on con- 
 viction, can sentence the prisoner to be hanged 
 or shot. This course might be taken, say, for 
 the murder of a high oflficial, but it is so un- 
 usual that, so I was told, only one person had 
 ever been hanged in the whole island, and that 
 was for the killing of an ofBcial. 
 
 For extreme crimes, then, the principal and 
 almost only punishment available is some kind 
 of whipping or flogging. 
 
 During the worst days of Australian exile, 
 the frequent executions, instead of suppressing 
 crime, created among the convicts a positive 
 mania for being hanged. It is alleged that, 
 strange as it may seem, the contagion became so 
 strong that convict^ killed on the spot strangers 
 who crossed their path, for no reason or motive 
 except to secure for themselves a public execu- 
 tion with all the tragic and impressive distinc- 
 tion it impHed. Without attempting at this mo- 
 ment to give a psychological explanation, I may 
 remark, that, after extensive observation and 
 inquiry, I cannot find that' in Sakhalin or any- 
 i8i 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 where in Siberia there has ever been a corre- 
 sponding mania for being flogged. 
 
 In comparing the value of the two kinds of 
 punishment as deterrents, this contrasting fact 
 would, I think, be generally acknowledged as 
 distinctive, and should be allowed its relative 
 significance. 
 
 The floggings in Sakhalin are of different 
 kinds, as well as of different degrees. The most 
 dreadful kind to witness, or to receive, is by the 
 knout. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Lansdell says, in his excellent 
 book, that he tried all through Siberia to hunt 
 up a knout, but could not find one, even in a 
 museum, until he reached Nickolaivsk, on the 
 far eastern coast. 
 
 Flogging with rods, or what in English pub- 
 lic schools is called birching, is the kind more 
 commonly practised throughout the island. 
 
 I have not been able to find a book of trav- 
 els, or even a romance, containing a descrip- 
 tion of a case of flogging by the knout, which 
 the author himself pretended to have wit- 
 nessed. 
 
 Such a pretension, if made, would need to 
 be accompanied by a special explanation, for, as 
 is well known, such scenes are not allowed to be 
 witnessed except by officials whose duty com- 
 pels them to be present, and by possibly some 
 182 
 
The Knout, Its Use and Effects 
 
 prisoners to whom the spectacle may be ex- 
 pected to be useful. 
 
 The officials dare not, the prisoners cannot, 
 pubHsh accounts of such scenes. It is very cer- 
 tain that foreign travellers would be the very last 
 persons who would be invited to such spectacles. 
 
 For nearly twenty years the use of the 
 knout in flogging has been prohibited as a reg- 
 ular practice throughout the whole of continen- 
 tal Siberia. In Sakhalin alone is its use still gen- 
 erally and legally continued; and as up to the 
 time of my visit no English-speaking author 
 had ever been able to reach the island, any de- 
 scriptions of the punishment could have been 
 only from hearsay. 
 
 It appears that in 1890, out of about twelve 
 thousand convicts in Sakhalin, five hundred and 
 eighty-three were flogged in one way or an- 
 other. In how many of these cases the knout 
 was used, I was unable to ascertain. 
 
 Special interest, therefore, may be found in 
 the fact that it fell to my lot to witness a case 
 of flogging by the knout, w^th all its attendant 
 circumstances, from beginning to end, and that 
 I was in one way a participator in a part of the 
 official proceedings attending the execution of 
 the horrible sentence. 
 
 This came about, as will be seen, by an acci- 
 dental concurrence of circumstances, in which 
 
 183 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 everybody concerned, except perhaps myself, 
 was entirely blameless. These circumstances 
 were such as could have been arranged before- 
 hand by no amount of ingenuity, and they made 
 it possible for the Governor to give his consent 
 to my presence with safety. 
 
 It may be remembered that I mentioned in 
 my account of my first day in Sakhalin a cere- 
 monious visit to the Governor by a newly ar- 
 rived ofBcial, preparatory to his assuming the 
 duties of his position as the civil medical officer 
 of the Korsakoffsk settlement. 
 
 The duties incumbent on this officer includ- 
 ed the medical surveillance of the prison, medi- 
 cal attendance upon prisoners, all the civil offi- 
 cials and their families, and upon all others in 
 the settlement of Korsakoffsk, excepting only 
 the officers and men of the military garrison, 
 which had its own military surgeon. 
 
 The reports of a drowning accident had 
 caused me to hurry down to the beach, where 
 I found this gentleman. Dr. A , endeavour- 
 ing to resuscitate ' the patient. Asking him 
 where he had learned the method of artificial 
 respiration he was employing, he told me that 
 it was the American method, known as the 
 " direct method " of Professor Howard, and 
 that he had learned it in St. Petersburg. He 
 was immensely astonished at finding that the 
 184 
 
The Knout, Its Use and Effects 
 
 person who was showing his pleasure and suc- 
 cess in the returning Hfe of the patient was him- 
 self the author of the method, and from that day 
 onward, both in the hospital and out of it, Dr. 
 
 A treated me with as much consideration 
 
 and respect as if I were the senior physician of 
 the post, and he merely an assistant. 
 
 Judged by the estimate many people have of 
 
 a Russian prison surgeon, Dr. A-; would be 
 
 a disappointment in nearly every particular. 
 His dignified, courtly, and gentle learning sug- 
 gested that, but for accidental circumstances 
 best known to himself, he would more naturally 
 have been a popular ladies' doctor in Moscow or 
 St. Petersburg. 
 
 When not otherwise engaged, it was in his 
 pleasant companionship that, either in the out- 
 door or indoor department of the hospital, I fre- 
 quently passed my morning hours. At other 
 times, by day and night, the hospital was at my 
 disposal as one of the points of view in which 
 and from which to study the Sakhalin system. 
 
 What with the indoor patients and the out- 
 door patients together, his morning's work was 
 rarely finished before twelve o'clock. 
 
 On a certain Saturday, as Dr. A and 
 
 myself were walking away from the hospital 
 much earlier than usual (why, I didn't know), I 
 observed, what was very unusual in him, that he 
 
 185 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 was unconsciously but intently knitting his 
 brows, was trying to look straight down upon 
 the ground as he walked, and was very absent. 
 
 In a playful way I said, " My good Doctor, 
 it seems to me you are thinking of something 
 which is in front of you." At this profound re- 
 mark he cast a comical glance at the only two 
 buttons he was capable of seeing upon his com- 
 fortably filled-Qut waistcoat, and good-naturedly 
 repHed: "Yes, you are quite right. There^s 
 more before me just now than I like. I have to 
 be at the court at eleven o'clock to examine a 
 prisoner. He has been condemned to receive 
 the maximum legal sentence of a hundred 
 lashes by the knout. To-day is the flogging 
 day, and if I decide that he can live through it, 
 the sentence will be executed almost immedi- 
 ately. He is a weakly sort of a creature, and I 
 feel very anxious about taking the responsibility 
 of it. At the same time, as you know, I am a 
 new man here, and it might be unpleasant for 
 me to venture to obstruct the execution of a 
 sentence passed by the court, except for rea- 
 sons which would be manifestly unquestionable. 
 The fact is, I was just thinking if I couldn't 
 manage to get you to help me through the mat- 
 ter. You see, as you have been a university 
 professor and are a guest of the Governor, a pro- 
 fessional concurrence on your part would forti- 
 i86 
 
The Knout, Its Use and Effects 
 
 fy my position, whatever it might be, and make 
 it impregnable." 
 
 '' All right," said I. " There is but one con- 
 dition I must insist upon, and that is, I must 
 have a free hand, and say just what I find true 
 in the case. For the rest, you may reckon on 
 me to the end of the chapter." 
 
 Thereupon we walked direct to the court- 
 house. On entering the court-room, we found 
 the Governor already there, also the police clerk, 
 the clerk of the court, and another officer. 
 
 On entering, I thought that the face of my 
 friend, the Governor, betrayed a shade of sur- 
 prise and only half-concealed annoyance at my 
 presence. The doctor, whom he beckoned, had 
 a sotto voce interview with him, and on return- 
 ing to me said, in a rather embarrassed way, 
 that he had explained to the Governor his rea- 
 sons for requesting my assistance, and that it 
 was all right. 
 
 It did not escape my attention, however, 
 that this was the first morning that the Governor 
 and I had been so long apart from each other, 
 and as the matter in hand was of more than 
 usual interest and importance, it would have 
 been natural for him to have mentioned this 
 event to me unless, upon the whole, he had pre- 
 ferred that I should not know of it. 
 
 While I fully sympathized with his appar- 
 
 187 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 ent regret at seeing me there, the impending 
 event was to myself of such very exceptional 
 though painful interest that (if I must confess 
 it) I fully intended that nothing less than a di- 
 rect refusal on his part should balk my purpose 
 of seeing the sad business through to its very 
 end. 
 
 Over the magisterial bench were the usual 
 large coloured chromos of the Czar and the 
 Czarina. Except for a seat for the clerk, there 
 were no seats, benches, or other furniture in the 
 court-room, for no audience is ever there to use 
 them. 
 
 In a few minutes the clanking of chains 
 and the tramp of a military guard on the stair- 
 case outside indicated that the culprit had ar- 
 rived in the building. The Governor took his 
 seat in the imposing magisterial chair, and a 
 green baize cover was removed from what 
 looked like a beautiful silver epergne. This, 
 Hke the mace in some other countries, symbol- 
 ized the royal presence. Having done this, the 
 clerk, who, Hke the Governor, was in full uni- 
 form, with much formality took his official 
 seat. 
 
 At a sign from him, the folding-doors were 
 
 thrown back, and the guard, consisting of five 
 
 soldiers, two of whom carried cocked revolvers, 
 
 brought in the prisoner, who was heavily man- 
 
 i88 
 
The Knout, Its Use and Effects 
 
 acled. His chains bound his ankles, legs, waist, 
 and wrists; by the latter he was also attached 
 to a soldier on each side of him. 
 
 The clerk having read the indictment and 
 the verdict, the prisoner was stripped to the 
 
 waist, and Dr. A asked to examine him. 
 
 This each of us did, both separately and to- 
 gether. 
 
 In our consultation which followed, the final 
 questions to be answered were: " Will the exe- 
 cution of the sentence probably prove fatal?" 
 I was obliged to confirm Dr. A.'s finding in this, 
 that there was no organic disease of the heart 
 or of the lungs, and that the circulatory system 
 was essentially sound. Beyond that, however, 
 I distinctly declined to go. I said that, having 
 had no experience in this form of punishment, 
 I could form no opinion as to the prisoner's 
 ability to bear it. That point I must leave en- 
 tirely to the more experienced judgment of Dr. 
 A , who announced that he could not pre- 
 sume to intervene between the sentence of the 
 court and its execution by a mere opinion, un- 
 less that opinion was based upon such an or- 
 ganic lesion as could, if required, be verified 
 by another surgeon. 
 
 On receiving this decision, the Governor re- 
 affirmed the sentence of the court, and ordered 
 it to be executed. The proceedings were duly 
 189 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 recorded in the presence of the prisoner, who 
 was then marched back to the prison. 
 
 I had supposed that we should at once pro- 
 ceed to the place of execution, but, much to my 
 relief, on the breaking up of the court, the Gov- 
 ernor took me across to the neighbouring house 
 of a military officer, where it was apparent that 
 our arrival was no surprise, for the first unusual 
 thing which attracted my attention was a dinner- 
 table in the back garden, which was spread for 
 four, whereas the family of our host consisted 
 only of one, he being a bachelor. 
 
 Our al fresco dinner passed ofif perhaps with 
 a little less spirit than was usual, and I think it 
 is more true than he would have it known, that 
 the Governor was considerably depressed by his 
 approaching task. Observing his humour, I 
 talked on a dozen other topics, but rigidly 
 avoided the subject which I knew engrossed 
 the thoughts of both of us. 
 
 As he and I neared the entrance to the pris- 
 on together, much to my surprise, instead of en- 
 tering it, he wheeled sharply to the right and 
 entered his own house just opposite. I then 
 seriously began to think that out of considera- 
 tion for his feelings I ought to go off some- 
 where and cease to embarrass him with my com- 
 pany any longer. 
 
 On our entering the house, however, the 
 190 
 
The Knout, Its Use and Effects 
 
 dinner, which had all this time been kept wait- 
 ing for us, was instantly announced and hurried 
 
 forward by Madame S . We all sat down 
 
 together, the Governor and I appearing as in- 
 nocent as possible of the dinner we already had 
 taken. 
 
 By the time this second meal was over it 
 was getting well on to four o'clock; still not a 
 word had passed between us except about vari- 
 ous things, in which neither of us just then felt 
 any earthly interest. 
 
 Much to my relief. Dr. A now walked 
 
 into the house, and, as he was shuffling about 
 with a good deal of uncertainty of manner, I 
 joined him in an accidental way, and casually 
 remarked interrogatively that, as it was so late, 
 I presumed that the intended event had been 
 postponed. A suppressed half-whispered " im- 
 possible " was his only answer. 
 
 By the clank of the Governor's sabre in the 
 adjoining room, I knew that he was rigging 
 himself up in official fashion, and a moment 
 after, without a remark except his gruff " Kho- 
 rosho Pashol " (all right go ahead), we three 
 were walking off together across the street to 
 the great prison gates just opposite. 
 
 Passing through the central quadrangle and 
 to the right up to the most northerly one, of 
 which I have previously spoken, we found a cor- 
 191 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 poral's guard drawn up near its centre. A few 
 paces farther up, in front of the kamera for the 
 worst of the criminals, and just on the crest of 
 the hill, stood a large, low, rather narrow, and 
 very solid-looking wooden bench or table about 
 fourteen inches high, having in its top pairs of 
 slit-shaped perforations. This was the " kaby- 
 la," or marl i. e., the flogging-table. 
 
 From the kamera close beyond, two guards 
 
 brought forth the criminal. Dr. A stepped 
 
 forward and again examined his chest for a mo- 
 ment. 
 
 Being divested of his manacles by his guard, 
 the prisoner laid himself full length upon the 
 kabyla as directed, face downward. By straps 
 passed through the perforations in the top of 
 the table, he was immovably secured to it by the 
 ankles, legs, chest, and arms, much after the 
 manner seen at " La Roquette." 
 
 About eight paces in front of the head of the 
 kabyla stood, from right to left, the corporal's 
 guard, the Governor, the civil surgeon, and my- 
 self. Close beside the culprit, on the left, stood 
 a subordinate official (the marker) with a large 
 memorandum-book in his hand. At different 
 open doors and windows, heads of convicts 
 could be seen crowded together, all breath- 
 lessly waiting for the appearance of the execu- 
 tioner. 
 
 192 
 
The Knout, Its Use and Effects 
 
 From the same kamera from which the cul- 
 prit had come, a tall, stalwart man now stepped 
 forth. His face was stern, but without malice. 
 He had in his hand what appeared at first sight 
 to be a short-handled, long bullock whip. As 
 he came forward he drew the multiple thongs 
 through his fingers in an expert fashion as if to 
 straighten them, stalked three or four paces in 
 a straight line from the kabyla on its right, and 
 marked the distance with his heel. This man 
 was the executioner. With military precision 
 he planted his right foot firmly on the marked 
 spot, and, raising his hand as high as he was 
 able, with a clever wrist movement sent the 
 thongs swishing backward and forward, the hiss 
 ending with a ping like that of a Minie bullet. 
 Slightly changing the position of his foot, he 
 repeated this proceeding two or three times. 
 He was simply measuring his stroke. 
 
 Fixing himself with extra firmness in his 
 latest position, the executioner skilfully kept 
 the lash poised in the air, as an eagle poises 
 when about to dart upon its prey. Fully as- 
 sured now of his accuracy, he shot a swift and 
 impatient glance at the Governor, who, accus- 
 tomed to the signal, sternly gave the final word 
 of command. At least, I know that he com- 
 menced to give it, but before the word was fully 
 out of his mouth, it was completely drowned by 
 x5 193 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 the shrieks and yells of the culprit. I could only 
 just catch the voice of the executioner as he 
 shouted loudly and deliberately, '^ N-u-m-ber 
 one! " answered by that of the marker as he re- 
 peated and recorded it. I quickly began to ap- 
 preciate what had appeared to me mere osten- 
 tatiousness in the preliminary stroke practice. 
 For, having once been started, the executioner's 
 strokes were as steady, as rhythmical, as precise, 
 as if done by a steam-engine, and as unrelenting. 
 Such was the precision of them, that at the end 
 of the fifth there were exactly fifteen lines scor- 
 ing the buttocks as evenly as if they had been 
 marked by a piece of chalk. Their force so 
 completely expelled the blood from the surface 
 that with chalk the lines could not have been 
 made whiter. By the wrist manoeuvre the 
 blows were applied with such carefully graded 
 force that at the end of the first stage the part 
 already attacked looked as if covered with an 
 even sheet of white paper. There was not a 
 drop of blood. 
 
 Up to this point, or about the twenty-fifth 
 stroke, so violent were the attempts of the pris- 
 oner to struggle and to yell, that death from suf- 
 focation seemed as likely as from the flogging 
 itself. Then came a dead silence. 
 
 The second stage commenced when the blood 
 began to flow, and as this proceeded more and 
 194 
 
The Knout, Its Use and Effects 
 
 more freely, the victim appeared to revive and to 
 come to life again. As a spectacle, this was the 
 more horrible part of the punishment, though 
 for the victim it was much less painful. At every 
 blow, each of the three knout-ended thongs, 
 like the claws and beak of a vulture, pecked out 
 fragments of dripping flesh, which were scat- 
 tered in all directions by the backward swing of 
 the lash. To avoid them, the officers who were 
 in white uniform and myself had to step back 
 and back for a considerable distance. After the 
 skin of the side attacked had been completely 
 detached and scattered, the screams of the poor 
 wretch subsided into groans and sobs. The ex- 
 cavation, now about the size and depth of a 
 soup plate, being filled with overflowing blood, 
 which poured over the edge of the table, the 
 force of the blows was very much deadened. 
 The deeper and deeper the ploughing, the less 
 and the less was the pain. 
 
 At last, when it seemed as if the time would 
 surely never arrive, the marker, all out of 
 breath, shouted out, in a loud and prolonged 
 voice, '* F-i-f-t-y," the number recorded. The 
 Governor cried " Halt! " 
 
 At this point Dr. A stepped forward, 
 
 felt the prisoner's pulse, stepped back to the 
 Governor, and made a report of the man's condi- 
 tion. After a pause of about five minutes, the 
 195 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 executioner and marker changed sides, like 
 cricketers. 
 
 Again the executioner went through the 
 same process as at the first starting. Again the 
 final command was given, and with the same 
 shrieks and yells on the part of the culprit and 
 the same mechanical rhythm, persistence, and 
 relentlessness on the part of the executioner, 
 the scene continued until, to my infinite relief, 
 a relief which I certainly think was shared by 
 everybody else as well as by the culprit him- 
 self, the marker shouted out the welcome word 
 " N-i-fi-e-t-y-n-i-n-e." The hundredth stroke is 
 always omitted as a token of imperial mag- 
 nanimity. 
 
 When what remained of this poor wretch 
 had been unstrapped, he was not dead, and his 
 quivering body was borne away to the hospital. 
 The kabyla, or flogging-table, was swilled with 
 buckets of water, and during the drying of it 
 I examined and experimented with the bloody 
 knout. 
 
 The handle of this instrument was of thick 
 wood, about eighteen inches long. The main 
 thong was of stout rawhide, tied into a knot 
 about eight feet from the handle, where it was 
 split into three smaller thongs. These were 
 about three feet long, the ends terminating, 
 not in lead or iron hooks, as I have seen falsely 
 196 
 
The Knout, Its Use and Effects 
 
 alleged, but in knots so short and hard as to 
 amount to almost the same thing. At the time 
 I examined it, the thongs were nearly covered 
 with blood-clots and clinging fragments of flesh. 
 It was a most sickening object. 
 
 " However could you endure to witness such 
 a dreadful scene? " This is a question which 
 friends have asked me more than once. I need 
 hardly say that such a trip as I was taking was 
 not entered upon chiefly for enjoyment, but 
 rather for personal knowledge beyond dispute. 
 
 Of all reported Siberian cruelties, there was 
 not one the alleged facts about which had been 
 so much disputed, and which had remained so 
 much unverified by actual observation, as this 
 form of punishment, and the precise method in 
 which it was carried out. When, therefore, the 
 opportunity of settling these points in an au- 
 thentic manner at last occurred, I could not 
 allow myself to turn my back upon it. On be- 
 half of the rest of mankind, I felt it my duty to 
 endure the ordeal, that they might have at least 
 one authentic description of it. 
 
 Another thing which more than anything 
 else, perhaps, made it possible for me to endure 
 the strain which otherwise, I must confess, 
 would have been intolerable, was the estab- 
 lished, terrible, and incorrigible barbarity of the 
 culprit. 
 
 197 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 This prisoner could not be classed even with 
 the average of murderers. Constitutionally, he 
 belonged to the meanest, most cowardly, merci- 
 less, and irreclaimable of all the varieties of crim- 
 inals in Sakhalin, and he looked all that he was. 
 He had no admixture of a single noble quality 
 sometimes found in an assassin. He was pri- 
 marily a petty, sneaking, pilfering thief, and this 
 vice of covetousness overruled every other pas- 
 sion. On two occasions before being sent to 
 Sakhalin, he had been guilty of murder. In 
 each case the victim was a friend, and in both 
 cases his only motive was gain. 
 
 During his recent two years' incarceration 
 there had been nothing to tempt him to steal, 
 so in the absence of bad marks he had been con- 
 ditionally released, and thereupon taken into the 
 employ of a free convict, who, living alone, was 
 supposed to have saved a little money. This 
 man, his benefactor, in accordance with his 
 habitually indulgent manner, had, at the request 
 of his new employee, started down the steps of 
 his cellar to get him a present of some pota- 
 toes, when the wretch had struck him a fatal 
 blow from behind, buried his body in the gar- 
 den, and ransacked the house for the supposed 
 savings, which, when found, turned out to be 
 less than ten roubles. 
 
 As this man had been free to go where he 
 198 
 
The Knout, Its Use and Effects 
 
 chose over a considerable area, any official or 
 other person supposed to have money about 
 him, even myself, might just as easily have be- 
 come his victim. 
 
 I have abated nothing in the description I 
 have given of the flogging scene, and I am free 
 to confess that, though I had, officially or other- 
 wise, witnessed every judicial form of execution 
 except that by electricity, this of flogging with 
 the knout was the most painful and revolting 
 within my experience. 
 
 I may be told that such a proceeding as I 
 have described is a standing disgrace to Russia 
 and to civilization. I will not trouble to dispute 
 these customary denunciations; but, taking into 
 consideration the nature of the crime, that of 
 the culprit, the insecurity of officials, the fact 
 that there was no other punishment in Sakhalin 
 which this wretch would fear taking all these 
 circumstances together, I would simply ask the 
 critic, '' Had you been Governor, what milder 
 punishment would you have substituted for 
 it?" 
 
 It may be of interest to add, that after other 
 floggings of a minor character had been given 
 to other prisoners for other recent ofTences, I 
 
 accompanied Dr. A to the hospital, and 
 
 found the flogged assassin in one of the best 
 
 beds in the best ward, where everything had 
 
 199 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 been carefully prepared for his reception. In 
 the dressing of his wounds, the selection of his 
 diet, as well as in the personal attention of the 
 nurses, there was neither stint nor limitation so 
 far as the resources of the Hospital Department 
 permitted. 
 
 In the nature of the case his treatment called 
 for very Httle medicine, but rather for moderate 
 stimulation and all the nourishment he could 
 take, and as he suffered very little actual pain, 
 his condition and prospects were regarded by 
 some of the other patients as being rather envi- 
 able than otherwise. 
 
 To an ordinary observer, and indeed to any- 
 body, his wound was certainly sufficiently 
 shocking, for the entire surface fell into a shade 
 of gangrene and sloughed away in pultaceous 
 masses, leaving an excavation which, for size 
 and depth, I have never seen equalled except 
 in a few cases of shell wounds on the field of 
 battle. // 
 
 As ^ the process of repair was necessarily a 
 long one, the treatment, which had to be most 
 generous, gave him a long period of such lux- 
 ury as might by many of his class be regarded 
 as a good offset, if not sufficient compensation, 
 for his punishment. 
 
 This is not the place for a medical history 
 of the case. Those who are interested in it may 
 200 
 
The Knout, Its Use and Effects 
 
 find it on page 484 of the London Lancet of 
 1 89 1. It is, so far as I know, the only one of 
 its kind duly recorded in any medical journal in 
 Europe. 
 
 In this published account, I felt constrained 
 to speak in the highest terms of the '' humane, 
 gentle, and kind " manner in which the medical 
 treatment was conducted, and accordingly got 
 credit in England for having written thus merely 
 to please my Russian friends. 
 
 The largest number of strokes with rods I 
 have seen given at one time is fifty. 
 
 In this case, the culprit was a very strong 
 man, and the court proceedings immediately 
 preliminary, as also the medical examination, 
 described in the case of flogging with the knout, 
 did not take place. The prisoner, who was with- 
 out manacles, and unattended by any guard, 
 came out alone from the same northern kam- 
 era, walked direct to the kabyla and was 
 strapped down upon it in the same manner as 
 the other one had been. The executioner and 
 the recorder or marker likewise took up their 
 respective positions, except that the executioner 
 stood much nearer to his victim. 
 
 On the ground at his right lay a bundle of 
 
 rods, one or two of which, after examination, he 
 
 selected and laid on the top of the bundle. 
 
 Then, without any preliminary distance mark- 
 
 201 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 ing, he intimated in a minute or two that he 
 was ready. 
 
 At the word of command from the Governor, 
 the executioner, his rod already raised above 
 his head, brought it down upon the exposed 
 buttocks with his accustomed deUberation and 
 precision. 
 
 The " number one " which he shouted was 
 duly reiterated and recorded by the marker, 
 the process being continued with mechanical 
 precision, except for a momentary halt for a 
 new rod, until number fifty was reached, 
 when the halt always called at this number was 
 final. 
 
 The part attacked during this proceeding 
 assumed various shades, white, red, and blue 
 succeeding and commingling with each other, 
 but right up to the end there was not a drop 
 of blood apparent, though in places the skin 
 seemed considerably broken. 
 
 A fact for which I felt particularly grateful 
 was that from first to last this plucky fellow did 
 not utter a sound, and jumped up when he was 
 unstrapped as if he thought that he had got 
 what he deserved and was thoroughly satisfied 
 with it. 
 
 He stepped back to his kamera as lively as 
 he had come out, and, though I expected him 
 in the outdoor department of the hospital after- 
 202 
 
ft ^WIVERSITY 
 
 The Knout, Its Use and Effects 
 
 ward, I never saw or heard anything more of 
 him. 
 
 I afterward examined the rods provided for 
 this occasion. They were about half as large 
 again, perhaps, but otherwise not unlike those 
 employed on the sons of English noblemen by 
 very good and kind masters at Eton and other 
 public schools. The number of strokes given 
 varies greatly indeed, it may be as low as ten. 
 I have been told by persons who have never 
 been in Russia that the number is sometimes 
 as many as a thousand. However, fifty is the 
 highest number I have myself ever seen given at 
 one time, the effect being generally about the 
 same as that just described. 
 
 It is unnecessary to remark on the capri- 
 ciousness of " public sentiment," especially on 
 subjects with which the public has no personal 
 acquaintance. 
 
 For a certain period public sentiment abol- 
 ished flogging totally in England, and without 
 discrimination, because it was degrading to hu- 
 manity, and forthwith and ever since a part of 
 that humanity has indulged in battering other 
 parts of humanity, especially wives and children, 
 to such a degree that a reaction has taken place, 
 and the English bench has returned to flogging 
 as the best remedy in certain cases. 
 
 Before I went to Siberia I was myself in- 
 203 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 clined to join the chorus of foreign protest 
 against all flogging in Russia, particularly as 
 practised in Siberia. On a near and intimate 
 acquaintance with all the conditions in Sakhalin, 
 however, I became convinced that I had been 
 looking through the wrong end of the telescope 
 not at facts, but at fictions based on facts. 
 
 In the days of Australian exile, it was not 
 the worst criminals of England that were sent 
 to that colony they were hanged at home. 
 
 I have mentioned elsewhere that among 
 these exiles hanging was not held in such dread, 
 either in England or Australia, as to be a de- 
 terrent; that, on the contrary, in Australia it 
 came to be regarded as rather a distinction; 
 that instead of acting as a warning, it gave the 
 stimulus of example, and that at times this was 
 so infectious that many convicts committed 
 murder for no other reason than to secure the 
 sensation of a public execution. 
 
 I need hardly repeat that in Sakhalin, on 
 the contrary, the larger proportion of the exiles 
 are criminals of the very first class, correspond- 
 ing, as a class, to the murderers who in England 
 are soon to be hanged. 
 
 With some of the men in Sakhalin, senti- 
 ment or any moral sense seems in too many 
 instances either never to have existed, or to be 
 completely in abeyance. The only sense which 
 204 
 
The Knout, Its Use and Effects 
 
 can with any confidence be appealed to is that 
 of fear, and, so far as my observation goes, the 
 only thing they dread and shrink from is phys- 
 ical pain. As regards this, many of those who 
 are otherwise the most incorrigible, are the 
 most shrinking cowards. 
 
 I have never known or heard of one of this 
 class for whom the knout came to have any fas- 
 cination. A flogging with the knout confers no 
 distinction; an ambition for it has never by infec- 
 tion become epidemical. It is never regarded 
 by a convict with equanimity, nor is tolerance of 
 it acquired by experience of it. By each and all 
 of them the knout never ceases to be regarded 
 with supreme dread. 
 
 In the absence of magnificent prisons, un- 
 limited warders, and separate appliances for 
 every variety of carefully graded punishments, 
 flogging as a substitute seems to be in Korsa- 
 kofifsk the only efficient and final reliance within 
 the means of the Administration. 
 
 The arguments adduced in favour of the 
 knout are, that it is inexpensive, convenient, 
 prompt, can be used anywhere at any time, and 
 confers no public distinction as offset to the 
 punishment; that it is a form of punishment 
 which can be repeated at discretion, with full 
 opportunities for reform in the intervals; that it 
 can be exactly regulated according to the crime; 
 205 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 and that, as the maximum sentence is never 
 carried, out except for crimes which in other 
 countries would incur capital punishment, the 
 knout, by comparison, allows the victim many 
 chances in his favour. 
 
 It is further pointed out that the supreme 
 fear of the knout is with many prisoners the 
 only deterrent, and that in the prisons this fear 
 is of greatest help to a short-handed staff of offi- 
 cials in the maintenance of discipline; that un- 
 der the loose, gregarious methods now in vogue 
 in the prison management, it is only by the 
 maintenance of the knout or of some other form 
 of corporeal punishment equally swift, sure, and 
 dreaded, that convicts can be protected against 
 each other, or deterred from rioting and mas- 
 sacre. 
 
 " Am I to understand, then, that you actu- 
 ally approve of such a barbarous practice as the 
 use of the knout in Sakhalin? " is a question 
 which in very deprecatory tones has been put to 
 me more than once by philanthropic friends for 
 whom I have the greatest esteem, but who have 
 never seen Russia. 
 
 My answer has been, " Try to imagine your- 
 self in the place of any one of the officers un- 
 fortunately on duty in Korsakofifsk, impotent 
 for reform, compelled to enforce existing regu- 
 lations as he finds them, his own life in constant 
 206 
 
The Knout, Its Use and Effects 
 
 peril from murderers inside his own house, and 
 from the hundreds more outside of it on every 
 hand." 
 
 In connection with such questions it must 
 always be borne in mind that Siberia is in Asia, 
 that SakhaHn is farther from European Russia 
 than even Siberia proper, that even the Euro- 
 pean Russians profess themselves, very properly, 
 to be as yet but partly civilized, and that the 
 mass of the exiles are at best only the very 
 dregs of that partial civilization as found in 
 semi-barbarous Asiatic provinces. 
 
 I do not hesitate to say that a personal 
 knowledge and experience of the actual condi- 
 tions in Sakhalin would be a very valuable help 
 to such as feel it their duty to deliver a public 
 judgment on the alleged barbarity of the knout, 
 as compared with the refinement of hanging. 
 
 Contrasting the triangle whipping-posts 
 found in all Her Majesty's prisons with the ka- 
 byla, or perforated table, used in the Russian 
 prisons, I said in my report to the London Lan- 
 cet: " From a medical standpoint the physical 
 results of flogging as I have seen it in its va- 
 rious forms in Siberia have disappointed me. 
 In every case the primary shock, and also the 
 secondary shock, have been less than I had 
 looked for. 
 
 " Bearing in mind the fatal results alleged to 
 207 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 have occurred when flogging was in vogue in 
 the English army, I am inclined to think that 
 the better endurance of Russian victims may 
 be partly explained by the horizontal position 
 maintained during the flogging. The fact that 
 the head is all the time lower than the heart, is 
 calculated to restrain the tendency to syncope 
 so common in the perpendicular position. As 
 regards the position of the culprit during flog- 
 ging, a more cruel and dangerous method than 
 the triangle could hardly be devised, and I am 
 very much astonished that in Her Majesty's 
 prisons this or an upright wooden post still con- 
 tinues to form a part of the prison armamen- 
 
 208 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 LIFE OF THE OFFICIALS DANGERS OF CRUELTY 
 
 It certainly cannot be said that the lot of the 
 great majority of the officials in Sakhalin is al- 
 together a happy one. So well and generally is 
 this understood that, except in the agricultural 
 and scientific departments, when an officer in St. 
 Petersburg or any part of European Russia is 
 promoted to a post in Sakhalin, I believe it is 
 common to ask what he has done. 
 
 Officials of various grades have told me of 
 their own accord the amount of actual pay they 
 received, and I must confess that it seemed so 
 small as to be unfavourable to official integrity 
 of administration. If I remember correctly, I 
 was told that the official pay of the Governor at 
 Korsakofifsk does not exceed two hundred and 
 fifty roubles a month and quarters, or, say, two 
 to three thousand dollars a year, an amount 
 which I should think must be a mere item in 
 the total outlay his position requires. 
 
 A staff officer, who was a captain of several 
 years' standing, told me that his pay was seventy 
 i^ 209 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 roubles a month and quarters, or less than five 
 hundred dollars a year. The priest, though he 
 had several children, fared not much better, and 
 any fees which elsewhere might have come to 
 him must have been meagre to the last degree. 
 
 With the exception of one or two small rugs 
 at the Governor's, I never saw a bit of carpet in 
 any house in Korsakoffsk. In no other house 
 did I see a room which was used exclusively as 
 a bed-room. For the most part the bedsteads in 
 use were merely trestle cots, which were either 
 put up and taken down daily, or placed in any 
 part of any room where they were least in the 
 way. 
 
 Unlike some of the other unmarried officers, 
 the stafif captain I have mentioned had a fair- 
 sized house to himself. Like all the others, it 
 consisted of a single story. I had frequently 
 passed through it, from the kitchen through the 
 big, bare sitting-room, to an apartment beyond, 
 and it had occurred to me more than once that 
 I had never seen where my friend's bed-room 
 was, or where, indeed, it could be. One morn- 
 ing, having to call for him for an early expedi- 
 tion, I unintentionally found it out. 
 
 In the large uncarpeted sitting-room was a 
 very shabby sofa not even a sofa-bedstead. It 
 was this that was both his bed and bedstead. 
 A special advantage about this simple arrange- 
 
 2IO 
 
Life of the Officials 
 
 ment is that it is never absolutely necessary to 
 take off one's boots, and undressing in its full 
 ordinary sense is superfluous. 
 
 I am not suggesting that this indifference to 
 sleeping conveniences is peculiar to Sakhalin. 
 In one of the largest cities in Siberia, where or- 
 dinary luxuries were easily to be had by those 
 who could afford them, I have seen military 
 officers, not only single but married also, con- 
 tent with a plain wooden shelf, inferior in finish, 
 but otherwise not unlike the bunks in the steer- 
 age or forecastle of a passenger ship. 
 
 Whatever is included in the government 
 commissariat is supplied to the officials at prices 
 fixed by the Administration. Everything else 
 is extremely expensive, except wines, spirits, 
 and tobacco, which are obtainable by officers 
 under special concessions. 
 
 As regards the cost of clothing, the officers 
 have their own way of getting theirs, and, what 
 with the tailoring and boot-shops in the prison, 
 I judge that the outlay for it is a very small 
 matter. 
 
 Judging from appearances, and from the to- 
 tal absence of fashion, I should think that the 
 wardrobe expenses of the ladies and families 
 must be still less. Whatever any lady might be 
 wearing, it looked as if she and some ancestor 
 had always worn it, and as if it could never have 
 
 211 
 
r 
 
 Prisoners of Russia 
 
 fitted worse than at that moment. Not corsets 
 but comfort seemed to be the rule observed by 
 all the ladies in Korsakoffsk. 
 
 As nearly as I can remember, I think that I 
 never saw a single coin except in or from my 
 own hands. The amounts played for at cards 
 were never seen except as entries made in little 
 memorandum-books. How mutual accounts 
 were settled I never learned. 
 
 The duties of the officials cannot be said to 
 be very exacting, yet none of them seemed to 
 have any conception of any form of voluntary 
 exercise. 
 
 Every officer wore spurs as a part of his 
 uniform, and also, I suspect, that he might make 
 the self-assertive and authoritative clank in walk- 
 ing; but not one of them, not even the Governor 
 commanding the garrison, did I ever see on 
 horseback. That may have been partly owing 
 to the fact that only one of them owned an ani- 
 mal of any kind, and that was a dog. There 
 were forty or more horses in the Governor's 
 service, but they were government property, 
 and no officer could use one of them except by 
 permission of the Governor. 
 
 The most active officials were the military 
 
 officers of the garrison, the commander of which 
 
 was a keen disciplinarian who kept his officers 
 
 and men in constant training, not only in their 
 
 212 
 
Life of the Officials 
 
 tactics, but more especially in their rifle practice, 
 he himself being a very superior marksman. 
 In this exercise he always generously invited me 
 to join him, but I never succeeded in lowering 
 his reputation in firing without a rest. 
 
 All the officials with rank seemed to have had 
 a good education, and to have once on a time 
 studied the modern languages all, except Eng- 
 lish. They were not only intelligent, but in a 
 remarkably uniform degree also vivacious, cour- 
 teous, and amiable. 
 
 It did not seem to me, however, that the 
 intellectual hfe of the settlement was danger- 
 ously high. I did not discover anybody in it 
 who was a regular subscriber to a distant news- 
 paper, nor did I ever see anybody in it read- 
 ing one. 
 
 Respecting books it was somewhat differ- 
 ent. I have spoken of the little high shelf of 
 
 disused books of Madame S , the wife of the 
 
 Governor. Dr. A , as a matter of course, 
 
 had a few professional books. The priest also 
 had a library, but he was very much amused 
 and very apologetic when I asked him to show 
 it to me. I should think that the books of every 
 kind in Korsakoffsk may have numbered, all 
 told, about forty. 
 
 The priest and myself did some translating 
 together, but except at church I do not remem- 
 213 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 ber to have seen anybody looking into a book 
 during my entire stay on the island. 
 
 Officials are not troubled by the expenses 
 of schooling, for, aside from the httle institution 
 
 maintained by Madame S for the children 
 
 of exiles, there is no school in the settlement. 
 
 Mercifully there are very few children. The 
 largest family is that of the priest, and his chil- 
 dren are trained by himself. The children in 
 the other families are quite young, and what lit- 
 tle training they get is what they receive at 
 home. I never saw an official take a drive, or 
 a walk, alone merely for pleasure. To drive, he 
 must get a droschki from the Governor. There 
 are only one or two roads, that go along the 
 coast to the right and along a valley to the left 
 of the town, but it is considered unsafe for a 
 single person to go far enough to make it inter- 
 esting. I need not say that this would apply in 
 a much greater degree to a pedestrian. 
 
 I never saw even two officials drive out to- 
 gether merely for pleasure but once, and that 
 was on the occasion of the visit to " la belle 
 femme," which I have described. 
 
 I never saw an officer drive a lady for pleas- 
 ure except once, when we were going out for a 
 picnic in considerable numbers, and then we did 
 not venture more than a couple of miles from 
 the town. 
 
 214 
 
Life of the Officials 
 
 On one occasion, at her urgent request, the 
 Governor consented to let me take a lady out 
 a short distance to give her a riding-lesson, but 
 after starting I was called back to make certain 
 about the condition of my revolvers. Although 
 this lady afterward begged the Governor to allow 
 her to have the lesson repeated, it somehow 
 happened that we did not go again. 
 
 It will thus be seen that the lives of the 
 officials are only a little less circumscribed than 
 the lives of the exiles themselves. Call them 
 official exiles, or exiled officials, and in either 
 case you will not be far wrong; either term will 
 be tolerably correct. 
 
 It is not beside the truth to say that in their 
 leisure time the occupations of the officers are 
 narrowed down to this: During the day, eating, 
 drinking, and cards; during the later hours, 
 cards, eating, and drinking. 
 
 It must be admitted, however, that in many 
 respects the position of the priest allows of an 
 exception in his case. He possesses at least a 
 dozen dusty books which pertain to his calling, 
 and some of them he occasionally consults. He 
 has no weakness either for eating, drinking, or 
 cards, though he is always ready to take a mod- 
 erate share in all of them. 
 
 His duties, too, are much more varied than 
 those of the other officials. In addition to his 
 
 215 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 church work, he has to keep numerous records, 
 for as chaplain of the post he is a state officer 
 as well as a priest. His life, like that of the la- 
 dies, is passed chiefly in his own uncomfortable 
 house, except when he is in the church. Only 
 on two occasions have I ever seen him out of 
 doors except when going there or to the Gov- 
 ernor's residence. His life, which appeared to 
 me to be near perfection, is mainly that of a 
 recluse. He is not only resigned to his posi- 
 tion, but is content. Indeed, I cannot imagine 
 any condition in which this rare, meek, humble- 
 minded man would be or could be otherwise, if 
 in the path of duty. 
 
 It is upon the wives and families, however, 
 that the burden of this kind of life falls with the 
 most crushing effect. 
 
 Except for a very occasional picnic, outdoor 
 life they have absolutely none. 
 
 Outside of Korsakofifsk village, the nearest 
 lady on whom the Governor's wife could call is 
 two days distant, within an almost unbroken for- 
 est, dangerous in summer and impassable in win- 
 ter, except by the dog-sledges which then trav- 
 erse it for more than three hundred miles on 
 postal service. 
 
 Within the village there are only five offi- 
 cials who are married. These five families alone 
 constitute the circumference of the circle within 
 216 
 
Life of the Officials 
 
 which life is passed by an officer's wife, day 
 after day, month after month, year after year, 
 with scarcely a walk or a drive, or any sort of 
 diversion or other interest, except the church. 
 I do not say that this in itself is necessarily 
 monotonous, but one can easily imagine that to 
 some people it might become so. 
 
 After installing herself in whichever house 
 is assigned to her husband, one first difficulty of 
 an official's wife is in obtaining one or more 
 suitable domestics. 
 
 The convict women who reach Sakhalin 
 are, generally speaking, much more ignorant, 
 vicious, and degraded than the men, as, before 
 a woman is sentenced to that doom, every dis- 
 crimination is made in her favour. As women 
 convicts in Siberia are never runaways, none is 
 forwarded to Sakhalin on this account. All 
 come, therefore, only by sentence for an initial 
 crime, or successive crimes, of the greatest mag- 
 nitude. Of twenty convictions I inquired into, 
 sixteen were for murder, and two for burning 
 down houses with murderous intent. 
 
 I had been innocently congratulating one 
 of the ladies on the fact, as I supposed, that she 
 could have the pick of servants, and that the 
 Administration would be glad to let her have as 
 many of them as she liked without wages. 
 
 She quickly informed me that on that point 
 217 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 there was certainly nothing to be congratulated 
 about, that the " pick of servants " meant on her 
 side an application for a domestic, and on the 
 part of the Administration an assignment to her 
 of one of the dreadful creatures I have described, 
 if there was one available; " and mark you," she 
 added, " at a rate of wages fixed by the Admin- 
 istration." 
 
 Having succeeded in getting somebody who 
 is willing to come to her, the mistress will have 
 to try to train her in even the most elementary 
 duties, and, by a quiet course of kindness and of 
 coaxing, to get the best she can out of her. 
 
 Although habit mitigates it, the mistress is 
 never free from apprehension lest this domestic, 
 always suspicious, may have her old murderous 
 instincts aroused by some accidental word or 
 incident. Once, when a lady complained to me, 
 and with manifest reason, about one of these 
 dreadful domestics, I asked, " But why don't 
 you send her back and get another? " Her an- 
 swer was sententious. " Another! Yes, and 
 perhaps a worse." 
 
 As I have elsewhere mentioned, convict 
 women are in great demand in other directions, 
 and where they can have greater freedom. It 
 is only the least attractive, the most obnoxious 
 of the newcomers, therefore, who will consent 
 to domestic service at all. It will be easy to be- 
 218 
 
Life of the Officials 
 
 lieve me, then, when I say of the domestics in 
 Korsakoffsk, and I think I have seen them all, 
 that of not one of them could it be said that she 
 possessed what seemed like a single redeeming 
 feature. 
 
 It might be supposed that the parlour-maid 
 of the Governor would be an exception; yet I 
 never felt safe when she was about, her murder- 
 ous career was so vividly stamped on her face, 
 her demeanour was so sullen, that when she 
 brought my early morning cup of tea to my bed- 
 room I invariably kept my eye on her move- 
 ments until she was well out of the room again. 
 
 I judge that it is partly owing to the de- 
 pravity and insufficiency of the domestics that 
 steel knives and forks which would require 
 cleaning are unknown. Instead, all these arti- 
 cles are of the common plated kind, which need 
 only to be washed. I also noticed that an old- 
 fashioned mangle weighted with stones has to 
 do all the ironing, the latter process being ap- 
 parently unfamiliar. The habits in wearing ap- 
 parel, as in innumerable other things, have to 
 be adjusted accordingly. 
 
 It was no wonder that, excepting the Gov- 
 ernor, nobody ventured to keep more than one 
 of these domestics at a time. 
 
 Each housewife accordingly endures a dou- 
 ble form of slavery. On the one hand, out of 
 219 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 fear, she has to be constantly compromising 
 with her domestic; on the other, she is com- 
 pelled to do with her own hands all work requir- 
 ing any care or skill. 
 
 Add to this the reflection from which they 
 can hardly be free a reflection from which, 
 during my own wakeful nights to the end of my 
 stay in Korsakoffsk, I was never able to escape 
 that by a conspiracy between the domestics 
 and the othep murderers outside, this handful of 
 families might at any moment be helplessly 
 overwhelmed in conflagration and massacre, 
 and I think it will be seen that even in summer 
 the lot of these offlcials and their families is 
 hardly an enviable one. 
 
 The sufferings of exiles, and especially those 
 inflicted upon them, have been made familiar 
 to all the world. So numerous have been the 
 allegations, that the mere number of them 
 seems overwhelming evidence of their undoubt- 
 ed truth. 
 
 In view of the situation I have just de- 
 scribed, it needs little argument to show, what 
 the facts fully corroborate, that any official who 
 should habitually inflict needless cruelties upon 
 the convict murderers by whom he is sur- 
 rounded in Korsakoffsk, would quickly find his 
 own life to be in such peril, that his official 
 functions would be impracticable. 
 220 
 
Life of the Officials 
 
 The Sakhalin official who would dare to 
 be officially inhuman, must be officially mad. 
 That, nevertheless, some officials have been of 
 that sort everybody is aware; but that some 
 officials have been assassinated in consequence is 
 not so well known, except to those it concerns. 
 
 Though the power of the Governor in Sak- 
 halin is and must be nearly absolute, the exer- 
 cise of it turns, after all, on a moral pivot. 
 
 I have known of several instances in which 
 officials who have abused that power have been 
 promptly stripped of it, and been made to 
 change places with their victims. 
 
 Under the powers given, and necessarily 
 given, to officials in such isolated places as 
 Korsakofifsk, I admit that there is no cruelty 
 of which any one of them has ever been ac- 
 cused but might be possible. 
 
 Therefore I would not venture to dispute 
 any one of the multitude of accusations with 
 which books of travellers and novelists abound. 
 When I was spending a week at the Devonshire 
 home of my friend, the late Lord Chief Justice 
 Coleridge, he once remarked to me: "Yes, I 
 can imagine conditions in which somebody 
 shouM have absolute power, but I doubt if there 
 is one man in a hundred thousand who could 
 be safely trusted with it." In a semi-barbarous 
 country this remark is particularly applicable. I 
 221 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 have myself seen severity and what I thought 
 cruelty by officers in Sakhalin, but it was cer- 
 tainly not premeditated. In each case the cru- 
 elty consisted of a blow from momentary irri- 
 tation, and, what is important to note, in each 
 case it was given by an officer whose popularity 
 and habitual generosity made the act possible 
 without endangering his own safety. I have 
 often noticed, even in the chain-gangs, that any 
 amount of severity would be submitted to with 
 patience and with respect so long as it did not 
 seem to be unjust. On more than one occa- 
 sion, on the contrary, I have seen a warder 
 turn pale with apprehension after he had been 
 provoked to a momentary excess. 
 
 When, therefore, I read or hear of an in- 
 stance of horrible cruelty, I always inquire who 
 did it, whether the narrator saw it done, and 
 what were the circumstances which led up to it. 
 An exile, a convict, a murderer, might be quite 
 capable of a truthful statement respecting the 
 wrongs done to himself or his fellows; but 
 stories retailed by foreign authors may some- 
 times be inaccurate in the form in which they 
 reach the American or English reader. 
 
 Undoubtedly, the custody of those who have 
 no rights may tend to the development of the 
 more brutal elements. The vocation of the 
 jailer, like that of the soldier, is Hkely to make 
 
 222 
 
Life of the Officials 
 
 him either a worse man or a better man. That 
 depends upon what sort of a man he was at the 
 beginning. 
 
 The prison officials of every grade most dis- 
 tinguished for their efficiency are the men who 
 regard their work as a vocation, and of these I 
 have met not many. 
 
 223 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 BAPTISM OF EXILE CHILDREN THE BLESSING 
 
 OF THE WATERS 
 
 Although I had often seen baptism per- 
 formed in various parts of Siberia as well as 
 of western Russia, I had never seen all of the 
 rites belonging to complete induction into the 
 Church in such order as to enable me to com- 
 prehend fully their relation to each other. 
 
 I had happened to remark this to my friend 
 the priest, and was therefore not a little pleased 
 on a certain Sunday morning to get a note from 
 him asking me to remain in the church after 
 the usual morning service, as there were to be 
 some ceremonies which he thought might in- 
 terest me. 
 
 After the main body of the congrega- 
 tion had left, I observed a curious and interest- 
 ing group assembling in the lobby. The cen- 
 tre of this group was formed by five or six 
 women with pillows in their arms; on each 
 pillow was a very small babe. Each of these 
 women was attended by another woman with a 
 224 
 
Baptism of Exile Children 
 
 little basket, the appearance and contents of 
 which were such as are famiHar to Russian 
 monthly nurses. The neatness and comparative 
 elegance of these little accessions were really 
 touching and almost pathetic to me, knowing, 
 as I did, the slender resources of the poor 
 mothers and the tender affection and maternal 
 pride the little knots of ribbon adorning the 
 " things " signified. The rest of the group con- 
 sisted, not of relatives (for in Sakhalin outside 
 of the possible family relatives do not exist), but 
 of friends who were present as sponsors. 
 
 I found that the infants were in various 
 stages of induction, and that each stage would 
 be represented, so that by the kind arrangement 
 of the priest I shoujd now see the whole proc- 
 ess on this single occasion. 
 
 First were presented the infants that had not 
 yet been made catechumens. These candidates 
 having been gathered together by the deacon, 
 the priest approached them, stripped them of all 
 clothing except a single garment, placed them 
 facing the east, breathed three times in their 
 faces, signed them with the cross on foreheads 
 and breasts, and, laying his hands on their heads, 
 recited a prayer or invocation. 
 
 This was followed by four acts of exorcism. 
 In the first act was a prayer, or rather an impre- 
 cation, which was very long, and began, " The 
 X7 225 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 Lord forbiddeth thee, O Devil," etc., and end- 
 ing with, " Get thee away and depart from the 
 sealed newly elected soldier of our God. Get 
 thee away and depart from this creature with 
 all thy might and angels." 
 
 After three other exorcising imprecations of 
 similar import, the priest again breathed on the 
 mouths, foreheads, and breasts of the candidates, 
 and said: '' Drive from him every evil and un- 
 clean spirit hiding and lurking in his heart." 
 
 Here followed the ritual for renunciation. 
 In this the babies were again stripped. They 
 were then turned towards the west, when the 
 priest with uplifted hands said, '' Dost thou re- 
 nounce Satan and all his works and all his 
 angels and all his service and all his pomp? " 
 This, with the " I renounce " by the sponsors, 
 was repeated many times. The priest: "Then 
 blow upon him and spit upon him," which the 
 sponsors did vigorously. The priest, now turn- 
 ing the infant towards the east, said, " Dost thou 
 join Christ? " This, with the answer " I join," 
 was repeated many times by the sponsors. The 
 priest: " Dost thou believe in him? " The 
 sponsors: " I beHeve in him as King and God." 
 All present now united in the Athanasian creed, 
 according exactly to the English version. 
 
 After many more repetitions of the question 
 and of the answer to it, " I have joined," came 
 226 
 
Baptism of Exile Children 
 
 the obeisance and adoration. The priest said, 
 " Bow thyself also unto him." As the sponsors 
 complied, they said, " I bow myself to the 
 Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost, 
 to the consubstantial and undivided Trinity." 
 The priest then recited a final prayer, and thus 
 was completed the process of exorcism, renun- 
 ciation, and illumination. 
 
 As these and two other infants were then 
 presented and ranged about the font for bap- 
 tism, the sacristan came forward in a very busi- 
 ness-like way and poured into the font several 
 buckets of warm water. When he had satisfied 
 himself that this was of the right temperature, 
 further preparation for the rite of baptism was 
 made by anointing. 
 
 The sponsors and friends being all supplied 
 with lighted tapers and ranged round the font 
 in proper order, the priest approached in white 
 garments, censed round about the altar, recited 
 several prayers, and ended by saying three 
 times, " Do thou thyself, therefore, O man-lov- 
 ing King, be present now also through the de- 
 scent of thy Holy Ghost, and sanctify this water 
 and give it the grace of redemption," etc. 
 
 He then three times signed the water with 
 
 the cross, and recited a long prayer, that any 
 
 demon or evil spirit lurking in the water might 
 
 be crushed and expelled, etc. He now breathed 
 
 227 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 three times upon a cruse of oil, signed over 
 it three times with the cross, and after a 
 prayer made three crosses upon the water with 
 the oil. 
 
 The anointing of the infant with oil was 
 performed thus: With a small camel's-hair pencil 
 dipped in the oil the priest made the sign of the 
 cross on the forehead, breast, and between the 
 
 shoulders, and said, '' The servant of God, , 
 
 is anointed with the oil of gladness in the name 
 of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy 
 Ghost, now and ever and to ages of ages. 
 Amen." 
 
 Then, with appropriate words pertaining to 
 the eyes, ears, hands, feet, and other parts, he 
 used the pencil in the same manner on the re- 
 spective parts, and thus ended the process of 
 anointing with holy oil. 
 
 The rite of baptism consisted in the priest, 
 who faced the east, taking the child by the knees 
 with one hand, covering its face with the other, 
 and adroitly passing the infant three times under 
 the surface of the water, saying, '' The servant 
 
 of God, , is baptized in the name of the 
 
 Father, amen; and of the Son, amen; and of the 
 Holy Ghost, amen. Now and ever to ages of 
 ages. Amen.'' 
 
 I must confess that the adroitness and skilful 
 rapidity with which this was done, as well as the 
 228 
 
Baptism of Exile Children 
 
 absence of egoism in the formula used, seemed 
 to me most admirable. 
 
 Next came the investiture. As fast as the in- 
 fants were dried, white chemises were handed 
 from the baskets, and as the priest clothed each 
 one, he said, '' The servant of God, , is in- 
 vested with the robe of righteousness in the 
 name of the Father," etc. After several prayers 
 were recited came the anointing with holy myrrh. 
 This was an exact repetition of the process al- 
 ready described, only that myrrh was substituted 
 for oil, the priest saying in addition, " The seal 
 of the Holy Ghost. Amen." 
 
 The circumambulation was now performed. 
 In this the priest headed a procession of all con- 
 cerned, marching round and round the font, 
 singing three times, " As many as have been 
 baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Alle- 
 luiah." 
 
 Prayers were now recited for " Our most 
 pious, autocratic, great Lord the Emperor," 
 and other members of the royal family by name, 
 for the ''most Holy Governing Synod," and 
 for the ** newly illuminated servants of God " 
 (by name) just regenerated. 
 
 Two of the infants, which had remained in 
 the background, because they had been submit- 
 ted to these rites eight days ago, were now pre- 
 sented for the further and next to the last rite 
 229 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 of induction, which is ablution. In the perform- 
 ance of this the priest loosened his own girdle 
 and garment and recited a number of prayers. 
 He then loosened the girdle and garment of each 
 of .the infants, joined the ends of each garment 
 and girdle, soaked them with water, with which 
 he sprinkled the child, and said, " Thou art jus- 
 tified, thou art illuminated, thou art sanctified, 
 thou art washed in the name of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ and by the Spirit of our God." 
 
 Taking a new sponge dipped in water, he 
 now wiped the fa^e, the head, and breast and 
 other parts of the infant, saying, " Thou art bap- 
 tized; thou art illuminated; thou art anointed 
 with myrrh; thou art sanctified; thou art washed, 
 in the name of the Father and of the Son and of 
 the Holy Ghost. Amen." 
 
 This was immediately followed by the last 
 induction rite of all, viz., tonsure of the hair. 
 This process consisted in a long preliminary 
 prayer, which first recited the value and impor- 
 tance of the divine gift of the hair of the head, 
 and then proceeded that of this, " The servant 
 
 of God, , is now come to make his first 
 
 offering," etc. 
 
 Other prayers followed, and the priest said, 
 
 " Bow your heads to the Lord." This being 
 
 done and other prayers said, the priest pinched 
 
 up two Httle scraps of what hair he could find 
 
 230 
 
Baptism of Exile Children 
 
 on the top of the head, and with scissors chpped 
 them in two directions crosswise, saying, *' The 
 
 servant of God, , is shorn in the name of the 
 
 Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. 
 Amen." 
 
 Finally, a prayer was offered in which the 
 name of the Emperor, of the sponsor, and of 
 the newly illuminated were recited together. 
 
 The actual receiving into the Church of the 
 baptized was a very short procedure, each of 
 them being brought into the middle of the 
 church, and then to the gates of the temple, the 
 priest taking a child in his arms and tracing 
 with it the sign of the cross in front of the gates, 
 
 saying, " The servant of God, , is received 
 
 into the Church in the name of the Father and 
 of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen." He 
 then carried the boys through the gates before 
 the holy altar, but the girls he brought only as 
 far as the royal gates, but not through them. 
 
 He then deposited each in succession on the 
 dais in front of the gates, whence the sponsors, 
 bowing three times, took them up. The cus- 
 tomary dismissal was then given, and all de- 
 parted. 
 
 As I had never met a foreigner who had 
 
 seen these various ceremonies in their order and 
 
 entirely, I have related, as briefly as I could, 
 
 their leading features as I witnessed them. To 
 
 231 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 see them all, and in their proper order of suc- 
 cession, on a single occasion was an opportunity 
 of very rare occurrence, and only came about 
 by the special arrangements of my kind friend 
 the priest, who is an exceptional enthusiast in 
 his calling. 
 
 Throughout the proceedings, though my 
 mind was on the ritual, my heart was with the 
 poor exiled parents, to whom this ceremony 
 was full of real, living, and perhaps far-reaching 
 significance. 
 
 To themselves this meant that the sins of the 
 father were lifted from the child, which was now 
 made not only an orthodox member of the 
 Church and an inheritor of the kingdom of heav- 
 en, but nominally a free and honourable citizen 
 of Russia. The Czar, whom the father thought 
 of only as his great devil, was thenceforward to 
 this free child the " Great Father, Lord and 
 King." 
 
 As has already happened in Australia, so 
 here, in the coming years, these free native chil- 
 dren will have the distinction of being the found- 
 ers of the very first and oldest families of Sak- 
 halin. 
 
 If anywhere a national church be expedient, 
 
 conspicuously would it have an excuse for being 
 
 in such a widespread and ignorant country as 
 
 Russia. The common single source of the oil 
 
 232 
 
Baptism of Exile Children 
 
 and myrrh for prince, noble, and moujik alike 
 ' throughout the Empire; the adroit linking to- 
 gether in the same prayer at the font the name 
 of the Czar with those of the newly baptized in- 
 fant and of the sponsor; these in conjunction with 
 impressive symbols and utterances amid which 
 the names of '' Our great Lord the Czar " and 
 that of the supreme object of worship are apt to 
 get confused all these things, I say, with the 
 many symbols and ways tending to amalgamate 
 the- state and the church, seem admirably 
 adapted in such a crude state of civiUzation to 
 promote amity and reverent patriotism in the 
 unwieldy and superstitious masses, for the con- 
 trol of which the Government can desire noth- 
 ing better than the impression that religion and 
 patriotism are synonymous and inseparable. 
 
 In the case of these unfortunates it must be 
 felt that these ceremonies, with their sacred as- 
 sociations, can hardly fail to brighten their lot, 
 helping some of them to the highest aspirations 
 of which they are capable. 
 
 The Blessing of the Public Well 
 
 One week-day afternoon I observed an un- 
 usual number of people in the vicinity of the 
 church, from which there shortly issued a pro- 
 cession having much the appearance of those 
 seen especially about Easter time in the country 
 233 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 towns and villages of Italy. I followed it along 
 a very circuitous route until it arrived at the- 
 open space around the public well in common 
 use by the families of the free convict part of 
 the settlement, where I found was to be per- 
 formed the annual ceremony of " the blessing 
 of the waters." 
 
 In front of the well was placed a brocade- 
 covered table, with the usual altar accessories, 
 and in the centre a silver-plated tureen. 
 
 The procession, as it arrived, formed in front 
 of the table in a semicircle, backed up by the 
 village women, by everybody else whose time 
 was of no value, and by five or six inquisitive 
 pigs, which now and then insisted on breaking 
 through to the front and impertinently joining 
 the chants in the wrong key. 
 
 With two trees of unusual size forming the 
 background to the altar, the scene, as the can- 
 dles and tapers were lighted in the full daylight, 
 was as humanly picturesque as anything I had 
 encountered in these latitudes. 
 
 The priest having signed the mouth of the 
 well with the cross and the censer three times, 
 and said various prayers, the tureen on the table 
 was filled with water from the well, and this 
 again treated in a similar manner. 
 
 Many long prayers, most of which were to 
 the Virgin, were then recited, asking that all the 
 234 
 
Blessing of the Public Well 
 
 waters of the settlement might be under her 
 special protection, etc., and, of course, to these 
 prayers were added others for the Emperor, 
 Empress, and all the royal family. 
 
 The priest, raising the tureen in the air, 
 made with it the sign of the cross, and blessed 
 it. Using other parts of the liturgy meanwhile, 
 he then kissed the cross. The worshippers there- 
 upon approached and did the same, and as they 
 came forward for this purpose, the priest, with 
 the aspergillus, or little brush, sprinkled them all 
 with the now sanctified water. 
 
 After other prayers and the usual dismissal, 
 the water which remained in the tureen 'was dis- 
 tributed among the worshippers, every one of 
 whom tried to obtain and carry away a little of 
 the sacred treasure, either in a little vessel or 
 by dipping a pocket-handkerchief or mantle 
 in it. 
 
 The procession then reformed, returned to 
 the church and dispersed. 
 
 235 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 PRIVATE WALKS AND TALKS IN KORSAKOFFSK 
 
 Besides the hospital there were several 
 spots which came to be favourite haunts with 
 me. There were the homes of the Japanese 
 consul, the priest, my merry laundress, the cha- 
 teau of the princes, the Rifle Butts, the black- 
 smith's shop, or the walk along the beach, 
 where, towards evening, I would be sure to 
 come across one or more of the better class of 
 exiles. 
 
 Under the Japanese treaty by which Sakha- 
 lin was ceded to Russia, one of the clauses pro- 
 vided for a Japanese consulate at Korsakoffsk, 
 whose business should be to receive and trans- 
 mit the payment to be made annually by Russia 
 for a certain number of years, and to supervise 
 the fishing industry the Japanese were allowed 
 to maintain along the southern and southwest- 
 em coast for a corresponding period, under con- 
 ditions mutually agreed upon. 
 
 Beyond this, and looking after the fishing 
 crews which were so apt to get wrecked on this 
 236 
 
Walks and Talks in KorsakofFsk 
 
 most dangerous coast, the duties of the consul 
 amounted to nothing, and as he had a very com- 
 petent assistant to help him, a visit from a friend 
 formed a grateful break in the monotony of his 
 existence. 
 
 The consul was a cultured, charming, and 
 most hospitable man, but, excepting the Gov- 
 ernor and myself, I never knew anybody to call 
 at his house, nor did I ever see him outside of 
 it. Whether this be attributable to the Bud- 
 dhistic training, I will not venture to guess, but 
 I think that all competent judges will agree that, 
 while there are few peoples more gregarious 
 and social than the Japanese, there is none more 
 capable of cheerful self-containment. My good 
 friend, who was such an excellent instance in 
 point, generously allowed me to practise my 
 doubtful Japanese upon him, and in all ways he 
 was a better friend to me than it was in my 
 power to be to him. 
 
 There was a merry laundress, one of the only 
 three women in Korsakoffsk in whose faces 
 seemed possible any expression of brightness, 
 cheerfulness, or contentment. Her cottage, 
 both outside and inside, was as bright as she 
 was herself, and, though our conversation was 
 never learned or profound, it was a pleasure to 
 pass a few minutes in exchanging salutations 
 with her. I understand that she had volunta- 
 237 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 rily exiled herself to join her husband, who 
 worked in the prison. Be that as it may, a more 
 bright and contented creature could hardly be 
 found anywhere. 
 
 A favourite stroll which I frequently took 
 was to the left of the Japanese consul's house 
 along the beach. There, under a precipitous 
 and overhanging cliff on an elevated plateau 
 projecting almost into the sea, were a little 
 house and water-mill, as picturesque as could 
 be designed. This house had been built and till 
 recently had been occupied by the two princes 
 of whom I have already spoken. From the top 
 of the clif ran a perpetual stream of considerable 
 volume an exact counterpart on a smaller scale 
 of the famous water-fall of Geisbach in Switzer- 
 land. The princes had constructed an overshot 
 water-wheel, upon which this stream played, 
 and considerable grist was brought to their 
 mill in more ways than one. By a variety of 
 fantastic ornamentation of the house, and the 
 rocky plateau in front, the spot had quite an 
 ideal appearance as an exile home. On account 
 of some reckless and unsuccessful attempt to 
 escape, however, the princes had been ordered 
 back to the prison, where, in comfortable but 
 less romantic quarters, I had the interview with 
 one of them which I have elsewhere described. 
 At the time of my visit the house was occupied 
 238 
 
Walks and Talks in KorsakoiFsk 
 
 by another exile, who had none of their culture 
 and taste, and who seemed to have very little 
 appreciation of the beauties of his situation. 
 
 A village smithy has always had strong at- 
 tractions for me. The blacksmith's shop at Kor- 
 sakofifsk, however, lacked some of the accus- 
 tomed poetic elements. Apart from the horse- 
 shoeing, a large share of the work consisted in 
 the repairing of fetters, a number of which al- 
 ways lay scattered about the floor. The merry 
 whistle which in western countries is such a 
 usual accompaniment of the anvil stroke is here 
 unknown. 
 
 My favourite pastime was joining in the 
 practice at the Rifle Butts. In the evening a 
 stroll along the beach to the right frequently 
 brought me across an exile for whom I felt a 
 good deal of respect and sympathy. As regu- 
 larly as if he were a Parsee or a Mohammedan, 
 this man was to be found there watching the 
 setting of the sun from the best point of view on 
 the sands. He was a very large and really 
 magnificent looking man, with a superb head. 
 His face, kind though sad, had a manner in 
 which dignity and gentleness were charmingly 
 combined. This superb, gentle man had for- 
 merly for a long time held a most distinguished 
 position in the artistic world of St. Petersburg. 
 
 As he nightly paced that lonely beach, cap in 
 239 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 hand, the rays of the setting sun falling full on 
 his solitary figure, the sight was to my mind par- 
 ticularly picturesque. Not only did he suffer 
 intense remorse for the murder he had com- 
 mitted, but he was haunted with the idea that 
 everybody knew of his crime. By nature very 
 sensitive, he had become so shy, that, though 
 he was delighted to meet somebody who was 
 neither a convict nor an official, it was only by 
 the most delicate approaches that I at last suc- 
 ceeded in securing his confidence. 
 
 His crime had been wholly unpremeditated, 
 but had been committed so publicly that there 
 had been no discretionary power that the court 
 could exercise short of exile. Further, such 
 was his popularity, that if he had been sent only 
 to continental Siberia, his friends would cer- 
 tainly have contrived his escape; so he was de- 
 ported direct to Sakhalin. 
 
 The consideration he received from all the 
 officials was so great and uniform that he was 
 practically free, and was allowed to use his pri- 
 vate resources sufficiently to live in comfort. 
 
 Further remarks on this interesting friend I 
 will reserve for my observations on the remorse 
 of murderers. 
 
 The priest's house was a favourite resort of 
 mine also. This was partly from my special 
 fondness for him, partly because of his anxiety 
 240 
 
Walks and Talks in KorsakofFsk 
 
 to become acquainted with the paralleUsms in 
 the EngHsh and Greek liturgies; also because 
 of the pleasure he took in giving me information 
 on the many points in the exile and social Hfe 
 with which he had a more intimate acquaintance 
 than any other person in Korsakoffsk. 
 
 His house was large, rambling, bare, and 
 barn-like, and wholly destitute of what might be 
 called comfort. Excepting his eldest daughter, 
 the pretty and favourite Eugenie, the family, for 
 reasons domestic, were rarely to be seen except 
 on festive occasions. Our interviews were al- 
 ways in what the priest euphemistically called 
 his '' study." This was a little corner room, in 
 which there were three old chairs, a kitchen- 
 table on which he was usually writing ofificial 
 reports, and a very simple cot bed, on which he 
 slept. The prison cell of the exile prince I have 
 mentioned was vastly more comfortable by com- 
 parison. Whatever may be said about extor- 
 tionate priests, the good Timoskenk evidently 
 did not belong to that class. Indeed, in view 
 of his native refinement and delicate tastes, his 
 manifest poverty was painful to witness. Never 
 but twice did I see him in the street, and, if he 
 were not at the church, I was always sure of his 
 being at home. He took great pleasure in com- 
 paring his local observations with my own re- 
 specting the characters of especially notorious 
 ^^ 241 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 criminals. Though his chief interest centred in 
 his church, he was wholly free from the mysteri- 
 ousness behind which priests less competent 
 than himself are so apt habitually to shelter 
 themselves and their ignorance. 
 
 He professed great pride and satisfaction 
 in being a priest in what for many reasons he 
 regarded as the only true Church, certainly the 
 most ancient Christian Church, and one the 
 clearly historic continuity of which is almost 
 without parallel. The Roman Catholic Church 
 he regarded as a dissenting body, the English 
 Church as a new schismatic and heretical off- 
 shoot of the dissenting Romanists. His pover- 
 ty he was not ashamed of; on the contrary, like 
 some bishops and other priests of the same 
 Church whom I have known, he considered that, 
 whatever the professions of a Christian priest 
 might be, it was an imperative duty that the 
 manner and style of his living should, as nearly 
 as practicable, be Hke that of his divine Master, 
 not a contradiction of it, that thus alone could 
 he hope to succeed in impressing the hearts of 
 the poor with the Gospel and with his own sin- 
 cerity as a preacher, and that for the sake of the 
 poor he must not be, or appear to be, above 
 them in these respects, but as one of them, that 
 they might feel as much at home with him as 
 children feel with a true " papa " or father. 
 242 
 
Walks and Talks in KorsakofFsk 
 
 " Living as they see me live," he said, " my 
 people do not doubt that our experiences are in 
 common. That when I say to them, ' Blessed 
 are the poor,' my words are not ironical; that 
 in all things temporal as well as spiritual they 
 and myself are in real sympathy. It is in this," 
 he concluded, '* that lies, I think, the human 
 secret of spiritual influence and success, espe- 
 cially that of a priest with his people." 
 
 There was nothing in this which surprised 
 me, for I had been forced to infer from the very 
 beginning of my acquaintance with him that 
 these were his controlling sentiments. 
 
 The beautiful character of this man and the 
 privilege of his friendship I have never ceased 
 to look back upon with warm appreciation and 
 with gratitude. 
 
 In keeping with the habitual informality of 
 what we will call Korsakofifsk society, my host- 
 ess said to me, one morning about noon, in her 
 excellent English, " Misterr Howardt, dinner 
 we will perhaps not haf zis day; I zink we will 
 go to ze house off ze priest." 
 
 Thither, about two o'clock, madame, the 
 Governor, and myself accordingly went. On 
 entering the large, bare, and barn-like reception- 
 room, where the whole colony was already as- 
 sembled, we were received, not by the priest, 
 nor by his wife, but by a little fellow about five 
 243 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 years old, who was gorgeously bedecked for the 
 occasion, and whom, I found, everybody was 
 expected to kiss on arriving. This Httle fellow 
 was the only son of the priest, and this his 
 " name day," which we were assembled to cele- 
 brate, he being the nominal host, we his guests. 
 
 Besides the other children, including the 
 pretty and popular Eugenie I have already men- 
 tioned, this house was the home of the most 
 popular baby, called the " baby-organ." 
 
 With the exception of the Governor's piano, 
 it was the only musical (?) instrument in the set- 
 tlement. It was about the size of a sewing ma- 
 chine, hence portable. Wherever and whenever 
 there was a party, there went the barrel organ. 
 For dancing it was indispensable. 
 
 This ugly little creature was a home-made 
 product, the proud achievement of a convict 
 carpenter in the prison. Its repertoire was very 
 limited, and the few airs it yielded were deter- 
 mined by perforated slips of brown paper put 
 in its inside. When the creaky wooden handle 
 was turned, it stirred up rats, cats, and puppies. 
 
 To stimulate conversation and beguile the 
 few minutes of customary delay, Eugenie good- 
 naturedly began the usual performance on this 
 miniature menagerie, but fortunately had only 
 made a few turns when came the glad announce- 
 ment of dinner. 
 
 244 
 
Walks and Talks in Korsakoffsk 
 
 We had a tight fit of it at the table, in the 
 centre of which was placed little Ivan Alexan- 
 drovitch, who, poor Uttle fellow! seemed some- 
 what dazed and bewildered by the proceedings. 
 The good priest said grace, everybody made 
 the significant and convenient cross sign, and 
 then, all standing, we drank in vodka the health 
 of little Ivan. 
 
 After hors d'oeuvres innumerable, soup and 
 the inevitable fish and potato pie, we began our 
 dinner. When the time came another toast was 
 drunk to Ivan, and such of the gentlemen as 
 felt able went away to their respective duties. 
 The ladies remained to drink tea, smoke, and 
 kiss and re-kiss the patient little host, to gossip, 
 of course, and to further enjoy the music which 
 was ground out by the children. 
 
 It must not be supposed that the festival 
 was now at an end. In the celebration of a 
 '* name day," which is also a celebration in hom- 
 age of the patron saint of the host or hostess of 
 the occasion, the guests are all literally boarders 
 in the house for the whole of that day. About 
 six or seten o'clock all the guests who had left 
 after dinner came back again, and, as some' of 
 them had taken but little to eat since four 
 o'clock that afternoon, the seven o'clock dinner 
 was entered upon with considerable zest. 
 
 By about eleven o'clock the tide of hilarity 
 245 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 rose nearly to its highest water (?) mark, and as 
 neither the priest nor myself danced, we ad- 
 journed to his " study " for a private smoke. 
 
 Although the keeping of a name day is a 
 religious as well as a social event, it cannot be 
 said that even in the house of the priest the re- 
 ligious part of it was at all conspicuous. As 
 every member of a family, however large, has a 
 name day every year, the frequency of the festi- 
 val must kindle a great many associations to off- 
 set the rough discomforts and monotony of 
 every-day life. 
 
 246 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 THE HOSPITAL 
 
 The hospital of Korsakoffsk is a fairly good 
 building. On the left of the main entrance are 
 the female wards; to its right, the outdoor 
 medical department and pharmacy; and from 
 this at right angles extends a long right wing, 
 divided into several male wards. Other wards 
 and some outbuildings form the left wing, which 
 runs along the ridge of a precipitous hill, while 
 a log palisade in the rear completes the quad- 
 rangle area the hospital occupies. The male 
 wards, which would accommodate about sixty 
 patients, generally contained about thirty-five. 
 The female wards, with capacity for about twen- 
 ty, generally contained about ten. 
 
 Some of these wards were single, for ob- 
 stetric and operative cases, and others had but 
 four beds each. The situation of the building 
 was perfect. The condition of the wards, from a 
 Russian standpoint, would be regarded as deci- 
 dedly clean, but the latrines were execrable, be- 
 247 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 ing fully up to the odorous standard so dear to 
 these people. 
 
 Each cot had its card for temperature and 
 pulse registrations, and the general conduct of 
 affairs corresponded to European methods. 
 
 The male wards had male nurses, the female 
 had female nurses, all convicts, previously un- 
 trained, and therefore by no means models in 
 their accidental vocation. The hospital stew- 
 ard, however, I have rarely seen surpassed for 
 general efficiency in any army hospital any- 
 where. 
 
 The post surgeon. Dr. A , visited all the 
 
 indoor patients twice a day, and attended in the 
 outdoor department during the morning. 
 
 In the front hall were always posted two 
 soldiers; but beyond that, and the iron bars out- 
 side the numerous windows, there was nothing 
 to suggest penal conditions. 
 
 The pharmacy was well stocked in quantity, 
 but, fortunately perhaps, the variety of the sup- 
 plies was not enough to tempt an enthusiastic 
 experimenter. Within the regulation list the 
 quantities were without limit. The diet supplied 
 was according to the doctor's daily requisition 
 list in each case, and in the ordering of this he 
 was under no arbitrary restrictions. 
 
 The diseases of which I saw the most in the 
 hospital were bronchitis, rheumatism, and pneu- 
 248 
 
The Hospital 
 
 monia, much as would be found in any hospital 
 in a northern latitude, and I saw also some cases 
 of malaria. These patients were chiefly in the 
 outdoor department, and had been working on 
 virgin land in the neighbourhood. The sur- 
 gical patients were, naturally, few. 
 
 Dr. A told me that he had not the exact 
 
 statistics to give me, but from all he knew, he 
 thought that the death-rate of the entire island 
 was pro rata as low as in any part of the world, 
 and that there was no single disease which he 
 could designate as endemic, or particularly 
 prevalent. 
 
 I had suspected that I might unearth a con- 
 siderable proportion of cases of raving madness. 
 But there is not a single lunatic asylum on the 
 entire island. All through Siberia special pro- 
 vision for the insane is quite neglected. As the 
 insane of Korsakoffsk were, therefore, inmates 
 of the hospital, I unavoidably saw all there were 
 without trouble. Among these few there was 
 no violent patient. There were two epileptics 
 of feeble intellect, and also two patients more or 
 less imbecile, who had been in the hospital con- 
 tinuously for several years in the absence of 
 other provision for them. Except these, there 
 were no patients of this class. It was in this 
 hospital that I followed up the treatment of the 
 murderer whom I saw receive a hundred lashes 
 249 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 with the knout. It was also m one of the fe- 
 male wards that occurred my first encounter 
 with an aboriginal Aino an incident which led 
 to the experience recounted in my book on Life 
 with Trans-Siberian Savages. 
 
 While, on the one hand, Dr. A pro- 
 fessed that the hospital was greatly indebted to 
 me, I, on the other hand, declared that I was 
 much more indebted to it, there being no other 
 spot on the island where I could so well and 
 deeply have studied the pathology of the exile 
 system as here, whither came everything which 
 most deeply testified against it. On the slight- 
 est excuse every exile and convict claims his 
 right of seeing the doctor, and it is impossible, 
 therefore, for any cruelty or abuse of any kind 
 whatsoever to continue long in operation with- 
 out some evidence of it coming under the eye 
 of the physician. 
 
 Every wound, however slight, whether from 
 flogging, blows, manacles, or accident; every ill- 
 ness or physical deterioration, whether from 
 actual disease, bad or insuf^cient diet, malaria, 
 insanitary conditions, or obscene habits, all come 
 under his observation. It is upon him, too, that 
 falls the unpleasant duty of detecting and ^cir- 
 cumventing the ingenious artfulness of the 
 many malingerers. 
 
 Thus the doctor has his finger literally on 
 250 
 
The Hospital 
 
 the pulse of the physical and moral life of the 
 whole settlement all the time. 
 
 It would be too flattering to say that this 
 hospital was my observatory. It was my clinical 
 and pathological laboratory. Every morning 
 all the prisoners who claimed exemption from 
 work on account of physical disabiUty were 
 marched down to the outdoor department. 
 This squad usually included some of the most 
 incorrigible, the most depraved, and also the 
 cleverest of the prisoners, men who by long 
 study and practice had become thoroughly ac- 
 complished in the arts of the malingerer. The 
 aim of these men was to practise on the doctor, 
 and to take care that he did not practise on 
 them. 
 
 One of these men was for several weeks led 
 to the hospital every other day, bent as nearly 
 double as a half-shut clasp-knife, gasping, 
 groaning, or shrieking almost incessantly. His 
 disease, as marked on his ticket, was lumbago, 
 the symptoms of which he knew to perfection. 
 As in this disease the symptoms are wholly sub- 
 jective, Dr. A , though he could discover 
 
 no other proof of its existence, had taken the 
 patient's word, and had properly ordered 
 warmth, rest, and special diet exactly what 
 the rascal wanted. Having had a good deal of 
 experience with new recruits and with soldiers 
 251 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 on the eve of battle, I perceived in this man what 
 to my mind was a ground for suspicion. At my 
 instigation, the doctor arranged for a close 
 watch upon his movements, informing the pa- 
 tient at the same time that, unless his disease 
 took a favourable turn within a day or two, he 
 should have to apply two large blisters to the 
 affected part. 
 
 The second night thereafter, during the ex- 
 citement of a game of cards, the watchers no- 
 ticed that the patient quite forgot the lumbago 
 part of his role, and that his movements became 
 as alert as possible. The next morning, when 
 he appeared at the hospital rather worse than 
 usual, the doctor confronted him with the proofs 
 of his malingering. Without a murmur he went 
 straight back to his work. 
 
 There was one healthy prisoner there, who 
 was naturally cadaverous looking, and knew 
 how much his appearance favoured his game. 
 I have several times heard the stage cough of 
 the famous Rachel when she was in the later 
 stage of phthisis, but the cough of this man 
 beat it. It sounded like a veritable reverbera- 
 tion from the tomb. 
 
 As I passed through the waiting-room I 
 noticed the guard in attendance looking almost 
 in terror at several little pools of blood this pa- 
 tient had unavoidably expectorated on the floor 
 252 
 
The Hospital 
 
 right in front of the startled soldier. Indeed, 
 so moved was the guard at the sight that, in 
 simple compassion, he came forward to ask the 
 doctor if he might not take the patient at once 
 into one of the regular wards for permanent 
 treatment. Both Dr. A and myself ex- 
 amined this patient's chest and, rather to our 
 surprise, found his lungs as strong as a black- 
 smith's bellows, and his heart perfect. 
 
 Considerably perplexed, it occurred to one 
 of us then to examine carefully his throat and 
 mouth. Here we found a back gum looking 
 like a ploughed field. I happened to notice, 
 too, that the dirt under this patient's forefinger- 
 nail was more red than black. These two things 
 put together proved to be a complete explana- 
 tion of the startling haemoptysis which this sick- 
 ly looking but really healthy man was in the 
 habit of producing at a minute's notice on suit- 
 able occasions. 
 
 In nearly every case this kind of applicant 
 for the hospital, called the " prisoner's paradise," 
 would be one who was the wearer of chains as 
 special punishment for attempted escape or 
 other crimes. 
 
 Here is another instance. Very early one 
 
 morning Dr. A was hurried out of bed to 
 
 attend a prisoner who on his way to quarry and 
 
 road'work had fallen down in a fit. This man 
 
 253 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 was so utterly unmanageable that, in addition to 
 leg-chains, which are an exceptional penalty, a 
 long chain ran from his waist to the wheel-bar- 
 row which he used, to increase the difficulty of 
 the escape he always seemed to be contempla- 
 ting. 
 
 On arriving at the hospital. Dr. A 
 
 found that this patient had already been re- 
 leased from his manacles and was installed in a 
 separate ward, but still continued in violent 
 convulsions. He had no suspicions in this case, 
 for, in addition to ordinary spasmodic convul- 
 sions, there were the bitten tongue and the foam- 
 ing at the mouth, the absence of which so often 
 
 betray the amateurs. I suggested to Dr. A 
 
 an emetic under another name, and he gave it. 
 Among other things this brought to light was 
 a substance which never enters into the prison- 
 ers' diet, but which, concealed in the cheek, will 
 produce excellent foaming. It was a piece of 
 soap. The foaming, and the bitten tongue, 
 were known to this clever fellow as the accept- 
 ed signs of true epilepsy. The surprise and con- 
 fusion of the artful but outwitted patient at this 
 revelation in the unexpected resurrection of 
 what he had inadvertently swallowed was serio- 
 comic in the extreme. Dr. A , who always 
 
 seemed to look upon his patients rather as un- 
 fortunate children, did not for a moment up- 
 254 
 
The Hospital 
 
 braid or accuse this man who had so cleverly 
 practised on him, but simply held up this piece 
 of soap on a skewer, and gave the rascal a for- 
 giving but significant smile. The chop-fallen 
 malingerer became quite impatient to get away 
 from the scene of his almost successful exploit. 
 
 Self-mutilation I have heard of, but I was 
 unable to find an instance of it in Sakhalin. A 
 pretty effective check upon this is the knowl- 
 edge every prisoner has that after a period, 
 which, if he likes, he can make a short one, any 
 disability thus caused will be a substantial and 
 permanent disadvantage to himself by crippling 
 his ability for independent self-maintenance. 
 Such mutilations as have occurred, I was told, 
 were not of the right forefinger, as I have seen 
 so often in the army, but of the right thumb, 
 chiefly to destroy competence for handling any 
 labour implement. 
 
 The illustrative cases of malingering I have 
 given may be taken as specimens of a great va- 
 riety of practices which are a constant perplexity 
 to the prison surgeon, who, while wishing on the 
 one hand perhaps to be just to the prisoners, is 
 on the other hand compelled to do his duty to 
 the Administration which employs him. 
 
 It is not only the art of the malingerer 
 against which the doctor has to be on the alert. 
 The former medical officer had an experience 
 255 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 which he told me had caused him a good deal of 
 perplexity and anxiety. A disease broke out in 
 the prison to which he found it very difficult to 
 give either a name or a place on the printed 
 forms of the weekly medical report. One pris- 
 oner after another had begun to complain, until 
 within two days about twenty of them were suf- 
 fering acutely, while three or four of them later 
 on came near dying. The doctor was struck by 
 the fact that each of the cases was from the same 
 kamera, and that no similar symptoms had ap- 
 peared in any other parts of the prison. Still 
 more was he impressed with the fact that one 
 prisoner, and only one, in the kamera concerned 
 remained completely well. 
 
 The pretty little flower of the Aconitum 
 Napellus grows in great profusion in Sakhalin, 
 where I have seen patches of it as thick as but- 
 tercups or daisies are in some other countries. 
 
 I need hardly say that aconite is not only 
 a most deadly poison, but that its presence 
 in the human body is almost beyond the range 
 of detection even by an expert toxicologist, as 
 was shown a few years ago in a famous trial of 
 which a small slab in the murderers' row in 
 Wardsworth prison is now the principal monu- 
 ment. 
 
 The healthy prisoner, it seems, had suspect- 
 ed some of his mates of conspiring to cheat him 
 256 
 
The Hospital 
 
 in their usual card-play. Being acquainted with 
 the nature of this plant, which was found in pro- 
 fusion in the vicinity where he worked, he se- 
 cured sufBcient for his purpose, and with this 
 managed to adulterate the soup of his particular 
 squad. 
 
 I was told that, as one after another com- 
 plained of thirst and griping, he won their grati- 
 tude by heating over again for them the unused 
 portion of soup in the bottom of the kettle, 
 and being conspicuously kind and attentive in 
 administering the remainder for their relief. 
 This was but one of the many incidents in which 
 I found that prisoners often had more to fear 
 from each other than from the officers in imme- 
 diate charge of them. 
 
 Respecting the indoor patients, they had, 
 ironically speaking, great *' staying power." 
 Literally they were very defective in recupera- 
 tive force. In the latter respect their condition 
 closely resembled what I have observed among 
 patients who are prisoners of war, with whom 
 any serious disease is sure to be more fatal than 
 with soldiers of the conquering army in the 
 same hospital. 
 
 For this low state of vital resiliency or tone 
 there were many causes, one or more predomi- 
 nating in different individuals, but in all cases 
 it might be best summed up perhaps in the word 
 x9 257 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 apathy. It is not a difficult matter for almost 
 any serious disease to prove fatal, where the pa- 
 tient sees no reasons why he should wish to re- 
 cover. 
 
 Another cause of illness prevalent here, as 
 among prisoners everywhere, and one which is 
 everywhere beyond external control, is unnatu- 
 ral vice, especially in the solitary form. Against 
 the latter the best-conducted European or 
 American prisons on the separate system have 
 no remedy. The congregate or herding system 
 practised throughout Siberia, however, is said 
 to be more woefully prolific of unnatural mutual 
 vices, practised with gross shamelessness. 
 
 258 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 THE PHYSIOGNOMY OF MURDERERS REMORSE 
 
 I HAVE profound respect for the skill of my 
 friends Professor Benedict, of Vienna Univer- 
 sity, and Professor Lombroso, of Turin, in their 
 studies of the craniology and physiognomy of 
 murderers and other criminals. When sufficient 
 data shall have been correctly classified, the 
 value of their conclusions will turn on the pre- 
 cision with which criminal peculiarities may be 
 perceived before conviction, and upon the de- 
 gree to which the instructors of youth especial- 
 ly may thus become able to discriminate the er- 
 ratic tendencies of the individual pupil, and to 
 correct them by training. 
 
 In the midst of such boundless material as 
 I had in Korsakoffsk, I was anxious to make 
 craniological measurements, and thus to add to 
 the data already possessed, but I found that the 
 objections to it were so great as to be insur- 
 mountable. To read Russian physiognomy 
 with probable accuracy, I am convinced that the 
 expert himself should be a Russian. The re- 
 259 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 trousse or pug nose, the high cheek-bones, small, 
 piggish eyes, large mouth, heavy lower jaw, 
 large projecting ears, and receding forehead, 
 are features which are common to the larger 
 proportion of the lower classes in Russia, 
 whether criminal or virtuous. Criminologists 
 generally agree as to the predominance of dark 
 hair in murderers. Among the Korsakofifsk 
 murderers dark hair was quite an exception. 
 To a foreigner there would at first seem to be 
 great similarity of feature; to one closer ac- 
 quainted, however, the expressions were as 
 varied and as significant as would be found 
 among the same class in other countries. 
 
 The " mark of Cain," which everybody is 
 so clever at perceiving in the countenance of 
 every murderer after his conviction, my experi- 
 ence taught me to regard as something of a fal- 
 lacy. Among convicts sent to Sakhalin for a 
 single murder, I found many examples of excep- 
 tionally fine features, thoroughly good expres- 
 sion, faces without a sign but such as would 
 commend the individuals to the liking and con- 
 fidence of strangers. 
 
 Among those whom I ascertained to have 
 been guilty of more than one murder, and es- 
 pecially among men who had been little short 
 of habitual or professional assassins, I certainly 
 found that contrary conditions prevailed. After 
 260 
 
The Physiognomy of Murderers 
 
 very numerous comparisons I was still unable 
 to discover any single *' mark " which the pub- 
 lic so easily perceive in convicted murderers. 
 The more common expression among these 
 multiple assassins was one of dull, general an- 
 tagonism. I think that an average person 
 might be confronted with several groups of 
 these men, and, if he knew nothing of them, he 
 would hardly venture to pick out one as being 
 constitutionally a murderer. 
 
 On the other hand, if he were an expert, it 
 would be easy for him to perceive in a large pro- 
 portion a sign or signs of some one dominant 
 passion or weakness. In by far the larger num- 
 ber of instances, certainly, this predominant ex- 
 pression was that of greed. In some cases this 
 would be united with one of fearless daring not 
 altogether unattractive. The murders commit- 
 ted by these men had oftenest been incident to 
 highway robbery or burglary. In the larger 
 number of the cases in which the crime of mur- 
 der had been incident to stealing, however, I 
 was rather surprised to find how commonly this 
 primary expression of greed was, as with wild 
 animals, combined with one of positive timidity. 
 
 These men were generally of poor physique, 
 undersized, pale of complexion, having a man- 
 ner and appearance which in the fox and the 
 wolf are called shyness, but which, when seen 
 261 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 in a man, secure for him the appellation of 
 " sneak." 
 
 After prolonged observation of these unfor- 
 tunately constructed individuals, I became 
 aware that I had been unconsciously classing 
 the lower types of them according to the spe- 
 cies of animals they respectively suggested, the 
 nature of which seemed to survive prominently 
 in their expression. 
 
 Attractive-looking Murderers 
 
 In the administration of the many and di- 
 verse departments of the penal colony of Sakha- 
 lin it may be inferred that the number of subor- 
 dinate clerks and other office employees must 
 be a large one. Accordingly all these posts are 
 filled by selections made from the exiles and 
 convicts themselves. Many of these posts have 
 to be confidential, and carry with them consid- 
 erable responsibility. The selections for them 
 have to be made with even more care than 
 would be necessary in ordinary life. 
 
 Whenever I strolled into the offices of the 
 savings bank, or the agricultural department, 
 it was with a very lively though not visible 
 interest that I scanned the faces of the many 
 clerks at their desks, and of the messengers and 
 other persons employed. 
 
 Besides special rations and money grants, 
 262 
 
The Physiognomy of Murderers 
 
 another privilege, and the one most prized by 
 these persons perhaps, was that of dressing in 
 any way they Hked best. 
 
 Among the many mercantile establishments 
 in St. Petersburg and Moscow with which I am 
 familiar, I remember very few in which the em- 
 ployees presented a better appearance in any 
 way than the clerks in Korsakoffsk. In appar- 
 ent intelligence, morality, smartness of manner, 
 they were about up to the average; in certain 
 compulsory virtues they were altogether supe- 
 rior. I was assured that for the most part they 
 had fully justified their selection. 
 
 What struck me most, and what may be 
 equally surprising to others, was that some of 
 the best of these men had committed the mur- 
 ders which were the most notoriously frightful. 
 The artist I have mentioned; the hospital stew- 
 ard of whom I have spoken so highly; the Gov- 
 ernor's coachman, for instance, appeared to be 
 admirable men, yet, curiously enough, each of 
 these belonged in this category. 
 
 The principal cause of their crimes, I found, 
 had been jealousy, sudden rage, intoxication, 
 revenge, or some other passing passion. Far 
 be it from me to palliate the heinousness of 
 their crimes, but it was most manifest that 
 these murderers were not entirely the all-round, 
 through and through corrupt individuals who, 
 263 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 according to the popular imagination, must 
 necessarily be and are unfit to live. 
 
 From a close personal acquaintance I am 
 convinced that many of these men would have 
 scorned the thought of the commercial frauds 
 by which some respectable men I know have 
 obtained position and influence. In some of 
 the cases the crime was the outcome of circum- 
 stances and coincidences as unlikely to recur as 
 is a thunderbolt to strike a second time just in 
 the same spot. While moving daily among 
 these men, I think, it never once occurred to me 
 to regret that any one of them had not been 
 hanged. 
 
 The Remorse of Murderers 
 
 From the constitution of the human mind, 
 the remorse from murder is so distinctive, so 
 intense, so inevitable, that, even though the 
 crime be undiscovered, there is no escape from 
 the punishment. 
 
 This is one of the common beliefs of man- 
 kind, and for a long time I accepted it as true 
 in all cases. But let the reader reflect on the 
 origin of this belief in himself, and he will find 
 himself turning to books to books of a class 
 not one of which pretends to be scientific. 
 
 In other countries the statements of murder- 
 ers are liable to be warped by many considera- 
 264 
 
The Remorse of Murderers 
 
 tions; in Sakhalin there is no such word as hope. 
 Let the confession be what it may, there is 
 nothing left to fear: Sakhalin is the place of the 
 dead; the world has long become but a distant 
 recollection. The state of the individual is un- 
 alterably fixed; there are no motives. There is 
 nothing to warp the testimony of the lost about 
 themselves. My visits might be as private as 
 I chose and as long as I chose. They might 
 be made at night as well as by day, in company 
 or alone, and in absolute confidence. 
 
 Writing to a friend at this time, I said: " I 
 feel that this is Inferno; I am Dante, and that 
 my investigations might be called ' Studies in 
 Hell.^ " 
 
 I began with the objective symptoms as they 
 might be reve_aled when the individuals were in 
 bed at night, and entirely off their guard. For 
 this kind of observation my intimate relation- 
 ship with the hospital was of indispensable serv- 
 ice to me. In these observations I found that 
 the more degraded of the criminals, those who 
 had committed the larger number of crimes, the 
 habitual, the constitutional murderers, slept just 
 as well as innocent people would sleep. It was 
 the same with their eating and drinking life 
 with them being as nearly as possible simply 
 an animal existence. 
 
 Those who had committed but one murder 
 265 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 were, on the contrary, very apt to be vic- 
 tims of insomnia, in proportion to their higher 
 state of culture. 
 
 All such were at all times what we call 
 " light sleepers." On going to bed they would 
 drop ofif into a sleep as readily as others, but 
 they would be easily awakened out of it, the 
 early waking being almost always accompanied 
 by a start. The superficial character of their 
 sleep would be apparent by restlessness, tossing, 
 moaning, perhaps talking; their own talking 
 would itself sometimes wake them. A common 
 time for waking was about two, still more so 
 about three o'clock. It interested me very 
 much to note the comparative uniformity in the 
 time of the first definite waking in each case. 
 Clocks and watches were very few in Korsa- 
 koflfsk, but if a watch had run down it might 
 have been set by the waking of any one of these 
 patients. About five they would fall asleep 
 again perhaps, but at the getting-up time would 
 rise comparatively unrefreshed. 
 
 These same persons were generally light 
 eaters also, and had a pulse which was both 
 small and weak. In contrast to the dogged 
 apathy so prevalent, the individuals of whom I 
 am now speaking appeared to be painfully sen- 
 sitive, and their manner was distressingly shy. 
 There was a very cultivated man in the hos- 
 266 
 
The Remorse of Murderers 
 
 pital, for a sprained ankle, who had been sent to 
 the island for forgery. Incident to this forgery 
 had occurred a mysterious death in which this 
 man was supposed to have been concerned, but, 
 as the evidence was insufficient on this point, he 
 was neither convicted nor tried on that charge. 
 With the consideration so frequently extended 
 to the more refined and educated prisoners, the 
 doctor had given this man a two-bed ward to 
 himself. On one of my watch-nights the night- 
 nurse was awakened from a light doze by a mut- 
 tering dream of this man. The attendant was 
 watching him in the uncertain glimmering lamp- 
 light. Evidently still asleep, but with eyes wide 
 open, this patient sprang up in his bed and, 
 with his hands clasped, talked to an imaginary 
 papa or priest, unburdening his mind as if in 
 confession. Curiously enough, while admitting 
 that it was he alone who had committed the 
 murder, his principal concern seemed to be to 
 correct a false impression which had prevailed 
 on an important detail as to the hour at which it 
 was done. With a deep moan, as if exhausted, 
 he then fell back on his pillow. The attendant 
 kept as still as death, fearing that the poor 
 wretch might fully awaken, discover his pres- 
 ence, and suspect his having heard his words. 
 His confession was so detailed and circumstan- 
 tial that it certainly might have supplied all the 
 267 
 
Prisoner's of Russia 
 
 points in the evidence which had been wanting 
 against him. 
 
 The soundest sleeper in the entire hos- 
 pital was the obtuse, hardened, and incorrigible 
 thief whose flogging for a local murder I have 
 elsewhere described. My cHnical notes of this 
 kind would of themselves fill a small volume. 
 I am compelled to restrict myself in these 
 pages chiefly to the conclusions I drew from 
 them. 
 
 Putting together the facts I obtained from 
 criminals themselves with those received at sec- 
 ond-hand from the priest, and from other offlcials 
 closely associated with the prisoners, my impres- 
 sion was that in the case of the lower type of 
 these murderers very few of their earlier crimes 
 would have been committed at all, but for the 
 notion of the criminal that he would probably 
 escape detection, and still more probably con- 
 viction and punishment. 
 
 The criminals of this type all suffered more 
 or less acutely, but this was from the subsequent 
 incessant nervous apprehension about possible 
 detection and arrest. After the arrest there had 
 been suffering of a milder type, this being con- 
 cerning the impending trial and sentence, but 
 after the sentence had come, first, a comparative 
 relief due to the change from uncertainty to cer- 
 tainty, and then gradual subsidence into apa- 
 268 
 
The Remorse of Murderers 
 
 thetic submission to the daily routine of prison 
 regulations. 
 
 I also concluded that there was in all this 
 no sense of acquiescence as to deserts or the 
 justice of the punishment, that such little 
 thought or feeling as continued resolved itself 
 into chagrin at the mistake and mismanagement 
 in not securing immunity. For a short time, 
 too, there had been a resentment towards those 
 in immediate charge over them. But from first 
 to last a feeling of sorrow for the individual 
 murdered, a sense of sin in the crime, of peni- 
 tence for it, the feeling of remorse as we com- 
 monly understand it, is to many of them quite 
 unknown. 
 
 With men of this low type, between the 
 thing wanted and the impulse to seize it, moral 
 restraint is almost an unknown quantity. As 
 with beasts of prey, the only obstacle is fear. 
 With such men death is but little dreaded, but 
 in the presence of prospect of physical suffering 
 they are invariably great cowards. No better 
 instance of this could be seen than is invariably 
 witnessed in the knout-flogging cases. As I 
 came to have more and more experience with 
 these people, the less did I think that moral ob- 
 tuseness was confined exclusively to those of the 
 greatest mental dulness. Among the very few 
 exceptions to the stupid faces of female con- 
 269 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 viets, for example, was the woman who at the 
 time of my pleasant chat with her in her own 
 house had just thrown the fragments of her 
 paramour to the wolves in the adjoining forest. 
 It is difficult to associate the idea of compunc- 
 tion with such quickness, brightness, and vi- 
 vacity as she displayed directly after this crime. 
 
 Take, again, " la belle femme.'* I admit 
 that she had no more cultivation than the aver- 
 age woman in the Caucasian mountains whence 
 she came, yet for natural quickness and hilarity 
 she was said to be without an equal in Sakhalin*. 
 In her jealous caprices, however, she was sim- 
 ply a tigress, and thought that an additional 
 murder rather added to her prestige and fasci- 
 nation, and I think it did. The Shakespearian 
 " damned spots " on her hands no more 
 troubled the vision of this woman than they 
 would trouble that of a French editor or states- 
 man after killing his antagonist in a duel. For 
 pure recklessness and wantonness in killing, 
 these women surpassed any men I ever saw or 
 heard of. Apart from natural reasons pertaining 
 to sex, it seemed to me that this resulted in part 
 from the imperiousness of their inordinate van- 
 ity and sensuous love of power, and in part from 
 their consciousness of the immunity granted to 
 them on account of their sex alone. 
 
 I come now to the murderers whom I knew 
 270 
 
The Remorse of Murderers 
 
 very well in Korsakoffsk. They were of a total- 
 ly different and higher type. Among them were 
 two bona fide princes of culture, and the distin- 
 guished artist who had moved in very high cir- 
 cles in Russia, and of each I retain interesting 
 souvenirs. There were also several others who 
 held subordinate offices in or about the various 
 bureaus of the Administration. 
 
 Each of the men I have in mind had com- 
 mitted but a single murder, and each murder 
 had been committed almost before the criminal 
 knew it. Nobody was more astonished by the 
 crime than the murderer himself. As I have al- 
 ready remarked, the crimes in these cases were 
 the outcome of a sudden access of jealousy, of 
 rage, of revenge. In two other cases they were 
 due to intoxication. I ascertained that imme- 
 diately after the crime some of these murderers 
 had been as if stunned, lost in confusion and 
 almost apathetic in their sense of helplessness. 
 Others had been seized with a frenzy of fright, 
 and had become frantic in their grief over the 
 person murdered. The dread of detection and 
 arrest, the idea of escape had not been at all 
 uppermost, and such efforts as had been made 
 to this end, had been so confused and bungling 
 as to increase the evidence against them. Their 
 arrest had given them a positive sense of relief. 
 During their formal trial their sense of humili- 
 271 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 ation and shame, which was uppermost, robbed 
 them of any possible ingenuity in their plan of 
 defence, and they were not painfully anxious 
 about the exact nature of the impending verdict. 
 
 After the verdict, when the excitement of 
 the legal procedures was passed, and they had 
 settled down to their doom and fixed condition, 
 a new and more regular form of insomnia set 
 in. The sin in their crime bit back excruciating- 
 ly in these post-midnight waking hours. The 
 days they could stand, but the nights they dread- 
 ed. The hard-labour part of their sentence, 
 which in most of these cases was not strictly car- 
 ried out, though irksome, was regarded as the 
 most merciful part of their lot. It afforded dis- 
 traction by day and procured sleep, which 
 bridged over the racking tortures of the night. 
 In some cases grief over the death of their vic- 
 tim was the acutest element in their night 
 agony. 
 
 In consequence of this mental suffering, 
 most of these persons looked from five to ten 
 or even fifteen years older than they really were. 
 
 In ordinary life, our dead, even those who 
 have been part of ourselves, cease, after a few 
 years, to be always in our minds. So, in all 
 cases, the victim of the murder, except on rare 
 and startling occasions, is gradually forgotten 
 by the murderer, and the fang of remorse is 
 272 
 
The Remorse of Murderers 
 
 worn down. The sense of shame and humilia- 
 tion, however, persists, and this engenders a 
 peculiar manner which becomes a second nature 
 in such persons. A boisterous manner I never 
 saw in one of them. If it ever naturally existed, 
 it became after the murder wholly subdued. 
 They talk little except to themselves, which 
 they do very frequently when they think them- 
 selves beyond observation. During their soli- 
 tary walks the motions of their lips are common- 
 ly visible at a distance. This muttering to them- 
 selves when they think themselves unobserved 
 is frequently interspersed with violent ejacula- 
 tions and gesticulations. Whenever they do 
 speak to another person, the voice is raised only 
 just enough to be heard. I am not sure that 
 they cannot laugh, but I never saw one of them 
 laugh. In conversation many of them had a 
 smile, which was very courteous, very apolo- 
 getic, very pleasing; but the smile is as the 
 shore-lapping of a deep quiet sea after the sub- 
 sidence of a great storm. 
 
 Unlike the political exile, whose conscience 
 forces him to make his conduct and manner to- 
 wards the officials, and especially the subordi- 
 nate ones, a perpetual protest; unlike the lower 
 type of assassin with his blind, surly, and abject 
 obedience, the type of murderer of which I am 
 speaking is docile to warders, self-respecting 
 20 273 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 and respectful, and belongs to the class which, 
 as officials say, '' give no trouble." For this 
 reason they are generally popular, so to speak, 
 with the subordinate officials. The higher offi- 
 cials, who are very quick at recognising a gen- 
 tleman, and are sure to learn their history, are 
 apt to treat them with leniency at first and a 
 good deal of consideration afterward. The 
 artist, the princes, the hospital steward I have 
 mentioned, also various clerks in the depart- 
 ments, and others within certain limitations, 
 were as free in Korsakoffsk as if they had never 
 committed any crime at all. The manners of 
 the murderers of this type are best illustrated 
 by those of some monastics subdued, gentle, 
 suave; a manifest arriere pensee suggesting the 
 perpetual consciousness of being " under disci- 
 pline." I got the impression that after the re- 
 morse had more or less died away the shame and 
 humiliation immediately following the murder 
 still survived, and would persist perhaps to the 
 end. These peculiarities of manner, one can 
 easily imagine, might have been observable in 
 King David after his murder of Uriah, while 
 qualifying for the writing of his best penitential 
 
 Psalms. 
 
 
 
 While I would hardly go so far as Thack- 
 eray, who speaks of remorse as the least active, 
 the most easily quenched of all the moral senses, 
 274 
 
The Remorse of Murderers 
 
 one which in some natures is naturally dormant 
 or non-existent, it is decidedly my impression 
 that the popular notion and teaching respecting 
 the inevitable and special remorse of murderers 
 is one of many popular errors. My extended 
 observation has convinced me of what to some 
 may seem a strange fact, that the remorse of a 
 murderer is not in proportion to his guilt, but is 
 rather the measure of nis greater or lesser moral 
 sensibility. 
 
 275 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 THE QUESTION OF REFORMATION 
 
 I THINK I never met with a jailer anywhere 
 who was an ardent believer in the reformation 
 of criminals of any kind. On the other hand, I 
 have rarely known one of these men who had 
 made any personal effort to test the soundness 
 of his unbelief. They recognise that not the 
 crime but the imprisonment for it is the more 
 difficult obstacle to reformation to be surmount- 
 ed. The greatest sceptics of all regarding the 
 reformation of prisoners may perhaps be found 
 among the prisoners themselves, especially in 
 such prisons of America and western Europe 
 as have a resident chaplain. The universal dic- 
 tum of prisoners respecting each other in their 
 relation to the chaplain is, that the best of them 
 are thought the worst, and the worst the best, 
 by that official.. In Russian prisons there is no 
 temptation to duplicity of this nature, however, 
 for in not one of them throughout the Empire 
 is the chaplain an official of a penal institution 
 or prison, in the Anglican sense. 
 276 
 
The Question of Reformation 
 
 In sad contrast to more civilized countries 
 Russia makes no pretence to educate prisoners, 
 or to reform them. She puts no positive ob- 
 stacle in their way in either direction, how- 
 ever. 
 
 On the contrary, the books and the agents 
 of the British and Foreign Bible Society of 
 England have for a long time enjoyed privileges 
 throughout the Russian dominions not accorded 
 to them even in England itself. These agents 
 may travel and take or send their books free of 
 charge to the most distant prison in Siberia, and 
 in these prisons the agents are encouraged and 
 helped by the officials in the distribution to the 
 prisoners of the Society's publications. Sakha- 
 lin, however, may be said to be beyond the 
 sphere of these influences. 
 
 Voluntary schools for the children of exiles 
 and prisoners, some of them of a high order, are 
 also allowed and encouraged in most of the 
 principal towns of Siberia. The office of school- 
 master for prisoners, and of chaplain for prison- 
 ers exclusively, however, has never been insti- 
 tuted. The Government generally arranges that 
 an orthodox priest shall be within reach of pris- 
 oners as of others, but within the prison walls 
 no clergyman has distinctive official position or 
 responsibility. 
 
 Although I believe that the separate and 
 ^77 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 silent prison system, such as prevails in Europe 
 and America, would be the most intolerable of 
 all forms of continuous punishment to the aver- 
 age Russian criminal, I am obliged to admit 
 that the herding system as practised in Sakhalin 
 and throughout Siberia, during the imprison- 
 ment period of exile, is so thoroughly demoral- 
 izing that even the strongest characters can 
 hardly be expected to survive it without 
 damage. 
 
 To mitigate or counteract this condition of 
 things the Administration does absolutely noth- 
 ing, the morals of the prisoners being under- 
 stood to be entirely beyond its sphere. 
 
 I asked my good friend the priest, whose 
 house is but a few yards from the prison, how 
 many times in each week he made regular visits 
 to the prisoners in it. In view of his exception- 
 al devotion to his ordinary clerical duties, and of 
 his sweetly sympathetic character, I was sur- 
 prised and not a little shocked when he told me 
 that he never entered the prison except when 
 he was sent for by a prisoner. In such a case, 
 however, he was very glad to do whatever lay in 
 his power. 
 
 " Are any of the prisoners ever allowed to 
 come from the prison to the Korsakoffsk 
 church? " 
 
 " Never." 
 
 278 
 
The Question of Reformation 
 
 " Is any sort of reading matter supplied 
 within the prison? " 
 
 " Alas ! have you seen anything of that sort 
 anywhere in Korsakoff sk? " 
 
 " Then for the mental or moral or religious 
 improvement of the inmates of the prison abso- 
 lutely nothing whatever is done ofificially, no 
 more than if they were cattle? " 
 
 To this last question the priest gave a 
 French shrug of the shoulders and replied: 
 
 "Alas! alas! so it is! You know how it is 
 all through Siberia, only here it is worse, be- 
 cause we are beyond the reach of all voluntary 
 and philanthropic efforts, which in some parts, 
 as you know, supplement the meagre provisions 
 made by the Administration." 
 
 My good friend, while respecting my atti- 
 tude, seemed to say, " This is not as I would 
 choose to have it, but, you see, though above 
 all a priest of God, I am primarily a servant of 
 the state. What would you? Did you ever 
 hear of a servant undertaking to reform his em- 
 ployer upon whom he is dependent for his bread 
 and butter? " 
 
 We naturally had a good many conversa- 
 tions together about the reform of criminals in 
 KorsakoiTsk, and I am indebted to him for some 
 most interesting incidents in that connection 
 within his own observation; but from what I 
 279 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 have already said it will be foreseen, perhaps, 
 that his views on the point were not very en- 
 thusiastic or hopeful. 
 
 When to the fact of the merely animal ex- 
 istence of these convicts during the incarcera- 
 tion period we add one other fact, viz., the 
 weeks and months of enforced idleness of many 
 of them during the long winter, we have before 
 us the prime cause of by far the larger number 
 of the worst evils incident to the prison life in 
 Sakhalin, as also throughout Siberia. Imagine 
 over a hundred such men, mostly murderers, in 
 a single herd, as I have seen them, who for 
 months and months have no more occupation 
 of any kind than swine in a sty, and it will be 
 easy to believe that my contention on this point 
 was agreed to even by the officials with whom 
 I discussed the matter. 
 
 It is only as it concerns free convicts, and 
 after release from prison, that the question of 
 reformation can come within reasonable consid- 
 eration. 
 
 What are the means especially provided for 
 the mental and moral elevation of the free con- 
 vict? So far as I could discover there were none 
 whatever. There are no restrictions, however. 
 He is free to follow his best inclinations as far 
 as he can. To be sure, this does not seem all 
 that could be wished for, but it will have been 
 280 
 
The Question of Reformation 
 
 already seen from what I have said, that in the 
 way of material aids on these lines there is not 
 much to choose between the lot of the exile 
 and that of the ofificials over him. One kind of 
 reformation there certainly is. Let us look at 
 the completeness of the reformation of the cir- 
 cumstances and conditions of the convict com- 
 pared with his former and ante-prison condi- 
 tions. 
 
 These new conditions consist briefly in se- 
 curing to the exile, first, a minimum of temp- 
 tation; second, the restraint arising from the 
 certainty that the slightest crime is sure to be 
 followed by detection and punishment; the im- 
 possibility of immunity. 
 
 The thief has the smallest possible tempta- 
 tion to steal in a community where everybody is 
 practically as poor in movable property as he is 
 himself; he can imagine himself to be honest. 
 Where private signatures have no money value, 
 the forger has little temptation to imitate them. 
 
 Where the feminine element is so small, the 
 incitements and temptations to carnal indul- 
 gences are so few and rare, he may imagine 
 himself to be pure. Where the system of es- 
 pionage is like the old curfew system, with the 
 addition of a police visit at least every night, 
 there is but small temptation to organize po- 
 litical plots. Where all non-officials are equal, 
 281 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 and appearances go for nothing, there is small 
 temptation for the vain or ambitious man to 
 adopt vicious methods that he may affect a style 
 of enviable superiority. Where there is abso- 
 lutely no liquor to be had, there is small temp- 
 tation to be a habitual drunkard. 
 
 Under these reformed conditions, so differ- 
 ent from those under which the convict first be- 
 came a criminal and afterward continued his 
 course, it will be seen that the mere contem- 
 plation of ordinary crime would be suggestive 
 of insanity. 
 
 Thus it will be understood that in Sakhalin 
 it is not an easy thing for a convict to know 
 whether he himself is reformed or not, while by 
 the official mind this negative evidence is not 
 accepted as proof of change of character. On 
 the other hand, it is only just to admit that, 
 whatever his previous crimes may have been, 
 the treatment the convict receives is regulated 
 exclusively according to his conduct while on 
 the island. Once the convict is on the free list, 
 so long as he respects the regulations, his ad- 
 vantages compare favourably with those of a 
 blameless member of an agricultural community 
 in western Russia. Socially he has an advan- 
 tage nowhere else possible to him in this: his 
 former crimes are no disability. As a free con- 
 vict he is socially the equal of all others about 
 282 
 
The Question of Reformation 
 
 him. Whatever respect he may or may not re- 
 ceive from his neighbours, depends on what he 
 does, and what he is now as it appears to them. 
 From the fearful disadvantages of outside prej- 
 udice prevalent in Europe, the Siberian con- 
 vict is entirely free. Whatever he may aspire 
 to be morally and religiously, that he is at liber- 
 ty to become. The church, if there be one near 
 enough to be available, is his church. The 
 priest of that church is his priest. 
 
 Although, as I have said, there is no special 
 provision whatever for his mental improvement, 
 there is nothing to keep him from it. If asked, 
 as I have been so many times, " Do these men, 
 the murderers, ever really reform? " I can sim- 
 ply reply that I found by far the larger propor- 
 tion of them to be what in America would be 
 called " good citizens "; that I found them to be 
 sober, tolerably industrious, law-abiding per- 
 sons, forming peaceable and prosperous commu- 
 nities. I have never yet witnessed so much as a 
 dispute between any of them. 
 
 I have elsewhere mentioned that a relapse 
 of any kind is followed by forfeiture of all priv- 
 ileges and a return to the prison, and as the 
 denial of even a free convict in case of an accu- 
 sation goes for very little, the general good 
 conduct of these people is guarded by the 
 strongest motives. From other descriptions I 
 283 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 have given it will have been seen that a large 
 number of them also, judging by their attend- 
 ance and by their behaviour at church, are cer- 
 tainly very religious. 
 
 Few of us, I hope, in our own sphere would 
 venture to go beyond these lines in the judg- 
 ment of our neighbours. To some of my inter- 
 rogators of the latter class I have recalled the 
 story of David and his complex crime in which 
 the murder of Uriah was but a single item; the 
 story of Peter, and of the accidental inch which 
 in the darkness intervened between him and the 
 probable homicide of the High Priest's serv- 
 ant crimes either of which in Russia might 
 have sent the accused to Sakhalin to be one of 
 the criminals now under consideration. 
 
 During recent years criminals other than 
 murderers have been sent to Sakhalin, and as 
 this new Siberia is intended hereafter more and 
 more to take the place of the older continental 
 Siberia, this course is every year being more and 
 more pursued. 
 
 Of the total number of exiles in Sakhalin in 
 1890, the proportion of murderers is greater, 
 therefore, than it is likely to be at any period 
 after that date, and thus the statistics respecting 
 the colony as it was then constituted furnish a 
 better basis of calculation concerning the point 
 in question than can figures from that date 
 284 
 
The Question of Reformation 
 
 onward. These statistics, which I submit below, 
 will show that because a man's crime has hap- 
 pened to be that of murder he is not therefore 
 specifically and wholly irreclaimable, and that 
 he necessarily can be of no further use to the 
 state. They show not only the fact, which 
 might be accidental, that a large proportion 
 have apparently reformed at given periods, but 
 that this apparent reformation is observable in 
 those who have arrived in Sakhalin at successive 
 periods, or at a progressive ratio. That the 
 subjoined statistics may be better understood, 
 I would explain that all exiles in Sakhalin be- 
 long to one of three categories, promotion from 
 the first to the second, and from the second to 
 the third being regulated by the good conduct 
 of the exile, and that, on the other hand, deg- 
 radation from the third to the second or the 
 first category may be the penalty for bad 
 conduct. 
 
 Class I. Included forced labourers in 
 mines; on public works, such as harbour or road 
 construction; draining land, or in prison work- 
 shops. 
 
 Class 2. Forced colonists; located in ag- 
 ricultural villages under police surveillance. 
 
 Class 5. Agricultural peasant colonists, 
 who are supplied by the Government with tools, 
 seed, cattle, etc., and are allowed to develop 
 
 285 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 farms, raise stock, etc., in their own way. After 
 deduction of a fixed rate of interest on the cap- 
 ital supplied them, the surplus of profit is their 
 own. These people are subject to only a very 
 slight police surveillance and, except for compul- 
 sion of residence in the locality assigned them, 
 are comfortably situated and practically free. 
 
 Leaving out their families, the exiles of all 
 classes in Sakhalin on December 31, 1890, gave 
 a total of 10,685, which were classified as 
 follows : 
 
 Class I. Forced workers 5>287 men, 673 women = 5,960 
 
 " 2. Forced colonists 3.677 men, 479 women = 4,156 
 
 " 3. Peasant colonists 422 men, 147 women = 569 
 
 Total 10,685 
 
 On January i, 1890, there were:. 
 
 Class I. Forced workers 5.803 
 
 " 2. Forced colonists 3.713 
 
 " 3. Peasant colonists 459 
 
 Total 9,974 
 
 The difference between these figures during 
 the year is thus accounted for: 
 
 Arrived during i8go 
 
 
 Sent from Europe 
 
 Recon- 
 demned 
 on Sak- 
 halin. 
 
 Promoted. 
 
 
 
 via sea. 
 
 via Si- 
 beria. 
 
 Forced 
 colonists. 
 
 Peasant 
 colonists. 
 
 1. Forced workers. . . 
 
 2. Forced colonists . . 
 
 3. Peasant colonists. 
 
 1,132 
 I 
 
 74 
 
 8 
 
 16 
 
 I 
 
 731 
 
 179 
 
 286 
 
The Question of Reformation 
 
 Taken off Lists 
 
 
 Died. 
 
 Fled or 
 missing. 
 
 Demitted. 
 
 Promoted. 
 
 
 Europe. 
 
 Siberia. 
 
 Colo- 
 nists. 
 
 Peasant 
 colo- 
 nists. 
 
 1. Forced workers. . 
 
 2. Forced colonists. . 
 
 3. Peasant colonists. 
 
 153 
 81 
 
 4 
 
 127 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 5 
 
 47 
 29 
 
 65 
 
 731 
 
 179 
 
 From this we see during the year an in- 
 crease of 713 persons i. e., 159 forced work- 
 ers, 444 forced colonists, and no peasants. 
 During 1890 alone 731 forced workers were 
 promoted to forced colonists, and 179 were pro- 
 moted to peasant colonists. 
 
 In 1882 the forced workers formed 62 per 
 cent of the total Russian population. In 1890, 
 notwithstanding the arrival of 1,232 fresh con- 
 victs, who were all forced workers, and who 
 are included in these statistics, this proportion 
 was reduced to 30 per cent, or about one half 
 what it was eight years before. 
 
 This successful conversion of forced col- 
 onists into peasant colonists in so short a time 
 is certainly very instructive and encouraging as 
 regards the reformation of the individuals, and 
 the development of otherwise useless land. It 
 should be very suggestive to m6re civilized 
 states, regarding a better use of their criminals. 
 
 These statistics refer, as I have remarked, 
 * 287 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 to a period when Sakhalin was reserved only 
 for the worst criminals. Among the females 
 sent to the island during this period, the pro- 
 portion of murderesses to all the other classes 
 of criminals put together was five to one. Of 
 the males, three times more had been con- 
 demned for murder than for any other crime. 
 To allow a wide margin for judicial and other 
 mistakes, let us suppose that of the 4,724 exiles 
 stated to have been promoted, only 2,000 had 
 been really guilty of murder. This gives us 
 certainly 2,000 persons, once murderers, now 
 peaceful, productive, successful colonists, and in 
 this fact may be found my answer to the ques- 
 tion at the beginning of this chapter respecting 
 the possibility of the reformation of murderers. 
 
 If it be allowed that I have now earned the 
 right to put a question myself, I would ask: 
 
 " In what respect would it be better if these 
 2,000 people had been hanged? " 
 
 288 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 THE GEOGRAPHY AND NATURAL RESOURCES OF 
 SAKHALIN 
 
 Although so little known, Sakhalin must 
 be classed among the larger islands of the world, 
 being in length about the same as England. 
 According to an official report made to the Rus- 
 sian Geographical Society by Polyakoff in 1883, 
 Sakhalin is 670 miles in length, and has a width 
 varying from 20 to 150 miles. 
 
 It is situated between the extreme eastern 
 coast of the mainland of Siberia on the west, and 
 the promontory of Kamchatka on the east. On 
 the north and east it is bounded by the Okhotsk 
 Sea, on the south by the Strait of La Perouse, 
 and on the west by the Gulf of Tartary, which 
 through the Bay of Castries and the Bay of 
 Amur connects the Sea of Japan on the south- 
 west with the Okhotsk on the northwest; while 
 La Perouse Strait, on the south of Sakhalin, 
 connects the Sea of Japan and the Gulf of Tar- 
 tary on the south and west, with the Okhotsk Sea 
 and the Pacific Ocean on the east and southeast, 
 21 289 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 At a point on the northwest coast, above 
 Alexandrovsk, the water channel between the 
 island and the mainland is so narrow that for 
 about six months in the year the only post route 
 to St. Petersburg from it crosses the channel 
 on the ice from the little village of Pogobi to 
 Cape Lazaneff, a point on the eastern coast of 
 the mainland of Siberia. This proximity may 
 partly explain the fact that this island was, till 
 comparatively recent times, supposed to be a 
 promontory. It is said that La Perouse had a 
 suspicion to the contrary in 1787, but no dem- 
 onstration of its being an island was arrived at 
 until so late as 1849 o^" i^S^. 
 
 The earliest notice of this territory seems to 
 date back to 1643, when it was referred to by 
 one Martin Gerritt of Holland; also, about the 
 same time, by Captain de Vries, and Pere 
 Hieronymus. 
 
 The first people to make any use of the 
 island were the Japanese, who established more 
 and more fishing stations there, and who, up to 
 about 1850, regarded their exclusive right to 
 the entire island, which they called Karafuto 
 or Karapto, as unquestioned. 
 
 It appears that in 1807, on the first visit 
 
 of Russians to Sakhalin, Captain Nemelski 
 
 hoisted the Russian flag somewhere in the 
 
 northwest part of the island, but that the Rus- 
 
 290 
 
The Geography of Sakhalin 
 
 sian Government afterward disowned the pro- 
 ceeding. 
 
 On a map published by Gall & Inglis, of 
 Edinburgh, in 1850, as on various other maps 
 of about that date, it will be found that from 
 Nertchinsk, at the junction of the Shilka and 
 Amur rivers, the region extending to the north 
 of Nickolaivsk, Sakhalin included, is all repre- 
 sented as part of Manchuria, and as Chinese 
 territory. It seems pretty certain that up to 
 1850, and even 1852, the Russians still re- 
 garded the island of Karapto as a promontory. 
 
 In 1853 Russia commenced to estabhsh a 
 station and a military post in the northwest of 
 the island, near the site of the present station of 
 Dui, but on the outbreak of the Turkish war 
 relinquished them. 
 
 Between i860 and 1867 Russia employed 
 scientific expeditions to explore and report upon 
 the island, and these reports, of which I shall 
 have more to say hereafter, were followed by 
 further plans for the occupation of the northern 
 and western part of it. The principal induce- 
 ment, as exhibited in these reports, was the 
 finding of Jurassic layers of coal, situated close 
 by the present site of Dui, near the mouth of 
 Castries Bay. The prospect of a coal-mine, rep- 
 resented as inexhaustible, close beside what was 
 said to be a promising site for a port, must have 
 291 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 been regarded by the Russian Government, 
 which had a navy in the East but no coaling 
 station, as only a little less desirable than a gold- 
 mine. 
 
 There was another desideratum, which some 
 officials regarded as being of equal or even su- 
 perior importance. The prodigious cost of the 
 unsuccessful system for preventing the perpet- 
 ual escapes of the more dangerous exiles scat- 
 tered throughout the vast area of Siberia could 
 only be remedied by finding a place with such 
 natural barriers as would render all attempts at 
 escape entirely hopeless. Of this difficult and 
 troublesome problem Sakhalin would be the 
 solution. 
 
 Regardless of the peaceable Japanese, who 
 by possession considered the entire island right- 
 ly their own, the Russians extended their sta- 
 tions towards the south and the best-chosen 
 localities and fishing settlements of the Japanese 
 along the extreme southern and southeastern 
 coasts. Wherever the Russians planted a station, 
 they established by the side of it a military post. 
 At that time the Japanese did not possess a 
 single man-of-war; the Russians had not only 
 an army on the spot, they also had a navy, with 
 its Asiatic Squadron. They did not employ 
 these forces against the peaceful Japanese; not 
 even in words did they threaten such a course. 
 292 
 
The Geography of Sakhalin 
 
 In the generosity of its heart, the Russian Gov- 
 ernment proposed to them a bargain. 
 
 The Japanese are fond of a variety of names, 
 not only for themselves but for their possessions. 
 Besides Karafuto and Karapto they had called 
 Sakhalin by the name " Sakhalin ula hota," the 
 meaning of which is " Rocks at the mouth of the 
 black river." For this single possession of Rocks 
 at the mouth of the black river, Russia offered 
 to give them in exchange a whole string of 
 islands known as the Kuriles, also to pay a 
 small fixed sum annually for a certain term of 
 years. 
 
 In 1875 these terms were accepted by the 
 Japanese, and the island of Sakhalin, which is 
 as long as England, became the exclusive prop- 
 erty of the Russian Government. The Japanese 
 now know that if all the Kurile islands were 
 put up at auction to-morrow, the entire lot 
 would not fetch a shilling. 
 
 Had Russia advanced a little farther from 
 her recent barbarism, she would hardly have 
 stooped to such huckstering, but, following the 
 example of the more civilized of the other 
 Christian nations of Europe, when she had dis- 
 covered that this unprotected island might be 
 useful to her, she would have provoked an ex- 
 cuse for slaughtering the peaceful occupants of 
 the island, and then honourably annexed it. 
 293 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 In accordance with the terms of the Russo- 
 Japanese treaty, the Japanese retain a consular 
 agent at Korsakofifsk, who receives the stipu- 
 lated annual payment from the Russians, and 
 pays them a specified pro rata tax levied upon 
 Japanese fishermen who continue to preponder- 
 ate in the annual fishing excursions to the Sak- 
 halin waters. 
 
 If we revert to the manner in which the 
 wonderfully large area of Siberia was added to 
 Russia, and to the manner in which a large 
 slice of Manchuria was added thereto, we shall 
 see that it was precisely by the same singularly 
 Russian method that she noiselessly crept into 
 Sakhalin, and afterward added that also to her 
 eastern territory. 
 
 While we cannot be surprised at the suspi- 
 cion which these achievements have inspired in 
 rival nations, we cannot withhold from Russia 
 exceptional credit for the fact that in each of 
 these instances the extension of territory was 
 acquired by the Russian Government without 
 the authorized shedding of a drop of human 
 blood. Neither of these territories has been ac- 
 quired by armed conquest, but each in its turn 
 simply by military menace and gradual ab- 
 sorption. 
 
 The spelling I have adopted for the name of 
 the island under consideration is justified by 
 294 
 
The Geography of Sakhalin 
 
 the fact that it gives the nearest approach in 
 Enghsh to the pronunciation of the designation 
 in common usage among the Russians who re- 
 side upon it and in its neighbourhood. To give 
 the pronunciation with exactness a German 
 form would be called for, but if I spelt the 
 word as Sachhalin, its pronunciation in Eng- 
 lish would be liable to a perversion much greater 
 than can possibly occur by the spelling Sakhalin, 
 which I have accordingly adopted. 
 
 Sakhalin is an exceedingly hilly country. 
 Its valleys are, for the larger part, narrow, 
 and their area comparatively small. The prin- 
 cipal range of hills runs from Cape Crillon on 
 the extreme southwest of the island along the 
 entire western coast; some of the hills in this 
 range are the highest on the island, several of 
 them reaching an altitude of about five thou- 
 sand feet. The other principal range is of lower 
 hills; it runs from Cape Notoro on the south- 
 west, with a good many breaks, along the east 
 coast, somewhat back from the shore, until it 
 unites with the western range in the north of the 
 island and above Dui, where another break oc- 
 curs. It then continues along the east coast up 
 to the most northern point of the island. The 
 western range seems to be a broken continua- 
 tion of the Yezo chain on the south of La Pe- 
 rouse Strait, and to form a link between this and 
 295 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 the more lofty mountains in the Kamchatka 
 promontory. 
 
 Whereas, however, the Yezo range is act- 
 ively volcanic, and supplies to commerce an 
 inexhaustible yield of solid sulphur; and whereas 
 the Kamchatka range is notorious for the inces- 
 sant and often violent activity of its volcanoes, 
 the Sakhalin Hnk presents no signs of volcanic 
 activity, and the island is entirely free from the 
 earthquakes which are of such frequent occur- 
 rence both in Yezo and in Kamchatka. 
 
 The best pass through the western range of 
 Sakhalin is that known as the Dui Pass, which 
 runs from Dui to the valley of the Toronai and 
 to the Bay of Terpenia. It is through this pass 
 that runs the only so-called road of any consid- 
 erable length of which Sakhalin can boast. This 
 road runs from Dui through the valley of the 
 Toronai towards Terpenia Bay, thence down 
 the island near the eastern coast, where it 
 diverges to the west, and then turns directly 
 south through the dense forest down the mid- 
 dle of the island to Aniva Bay. Here it turns 
 due east along the coast of Korsakofifsk. This 
 road, which is as yet unfinished, is regarded as 
 the proudest feat the officials have achieved on 
 the island. From my experience in going over 
 it, I should describe it as a regular bone-breaker, 
 for it is little more than a line of clearing 
 296 
 
The Geography of Sakhalin 
 
 through a dense, interminable and ahnost un- 
 broken forest. As this road, which is the only 
 open route for the St. Petersburg mail from 
 April to October between Korsakoffsk and Dui, 
 is during the greater part of that period, and for 
 about three hundred miles, only passable for 
 dog-sleighs, it will be understood that this soli- 
 tary track is not exactly a Roman road, nor in 
 any sense an English turnpike. 
 
 With this single exception, there is no other 
 road at present in the island, except one from 
 Dui through Alexandrovsk to Pogobi, which is 
 simply an extension of the Dui road, and such 
 other roads of a few miles in length as are 
 necessary for purely local purposes. 
 
 The west coast of Sakhalin is, for the most 
 part, precipitous and rocky; the east coast, from 
 the hills to the water-line, inclined to be flat 
 and sandy. The Bay of Aniva is over sixty 
 miles wide, and, with its exceedingly varied 
 range of bold hills, presents a very handsome 
 appearance. It is altogether the most attractive 
 spot in the island. 
 
 The principal fishing grounds are off the 
 east coast, the points of rendezvous for the ves- 
 sels engaged in it during the summer season 
 being Naiboutchi and Manone, between the Bay 
 of Mauka and the Bay of Patience. From 
 conversations I had with various persons en- 
 297 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 gaged in the trade, I judge that the fruitfulness 
 of these waters is not yet generally known. A 
 Russian prince whom I met out there, who 
 owned and commanded a very large whaling 
 steamer and was accompanied by two sailing 
 vessels of his own, told me that whales were so 
 abundant that it took him only a few weeks to 
 load up all his tanks, and that, though the season 
 was so short, he had managed to make two 
 trips so far each summer. Yet he seemed to be 
 the only person who was exploiting that region 
 on anything like a large scale. The Japanese 
 fishermen, who largely preponderate in num- 
 bers, confine their catches mostly to the salmon- 
 trout, which are in such abundant shoals there, 
 and leave the whales entirely to the very few 
 others who have the capital and the enterprise 
 that branch of the trade requires. 
 
 I do not pretend to be a judge in such mat- 
 ters, but I am very much of the opinion that to 
 somebody or other the hint contained in these 
 lines might prove to have great commercial 
 value, as proved already by Mr. Dlubigh in the 
 Mauka vicinity. 
 
 A great defect pertaining to Sakhalin is 
 this: that along all its fifteen hundred and more 
 miles of coast it is entirely destitute not only 
 of a good harbour, but of a single safe anchor- 
 age. 
 
 298 
 
>^T^H 
 
 *^^1 
 
 
 
 
 i>MW fe.fi ! S^^^^H 
 
 .^jj^^^^H 
 
The Geography of Sakhalin 
 
 It is true that Dui, which is its principal 
 entrepot, is called a port, but even there seagoing 
 vessels of the most moderate draught can 
 neither take in nor discharge cargo, except by- 
 lighters. At Korsakoffsk, which does not pre- 
 tend to be a port, the same also holds good, as 
 it is unsafe for any seagoing vessel of the small- 
 est dimensions to anchor within a mile or a mile 
 and a half of the little wooden landing pier 
 there. The reasons for this, which are natural 
 and said to be entirely insurmountable, I will 
 reserve till I come to deal with the peculiar fea- 
 tures of the climate of this island. 
 
 There are three lakes in Sakhalin, one of 
 which is about fifty miles in length. Of the 
 numerous rivers the larger are the Toronai, 
 which gives its name to the valley through 
 which it passes, and the Tym. Both these 
 rivers empty themselves on the east coast 
 into the Okhotsk Sea, and neither of them is 
 navigable. The smaller streams are numer- 
 ous, and a European would say of most of 
 them that they " abound " in fish. Better 
 and more neglected trout streams than those 
 of them which I have seen it would be 
 difBcult to find anywhere, nor is this at all 
 remarkable in a country where the fresh- 
 water fish enjoy the protection of absolute 
 neglect. 
 
 299 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 The climate of Sakhalin presents an excep- 
 tional phenomenon, consequent upon other phe- 
 nomena which are entirely local. Some inci- 
 dental remarks respecting this peculiar climate 
 which appeared in my recent book on Life 
 with Trans-Siberian Savages were ridiculed by 
 one or two of its many reviewers, who found, 
 simply by reference to a map, that my state- 
 ments were utterly inconsistent with the lati- 
 tude of the region in question. 
 
 The facts as I have stated them, however, 
 remain. And although the most northernly 
 point of Sakhalin is only 54 22', while that of 
 Scotland is 56 30', and though the larger part 
 of the island of Sakhalin has the same latitude 
 as central France, the mean temperature from 
 January, even in the centre of the island, is 
 given in the official tables as 10 below zero 
 Fahrenheit, while during the same month it 
 sometimes falls as low as 14 below. It is 
 equally true that during the greater part of the 
 winter the Okhotsk Sea is frozen over, and that 
 from about the month of October till about the 
 month of May navigation ceases in Sakhalin 
 waters, because during that period the entire 
 island is locked in by impenetrable ice. 
 
 On the contrary, for the month of July the 
 same official tables give the mean temperature 
 as 62 37' Fahrenheit at Korsakoffsk, on the Bay 
 300 
 
The Climate of Sakhalin 
 
 of Aniva. I have myself seen the thermometer 
 standing at above 70 Fahrenheit in the shade. 
 When I was in SakhaHn in 1890, the officers at 
 Korsakoffsk, both civil and military, for many 
 weeks running, wore uniforms made entirely of 
 white duck, the material being the same as is 
 commonly used in the tropics. As they all 
 seemed to have a good stock of these uniforms 
 for frequent renewal, it was evident that the 
 general use of them that summer was no excep- 
 tional or unforeseen circumstance. 
 
 But what is the explanation, you will ask, 
 of these interesting variations and contrasts? 
 
 In approaching what I assume to be but a 
 proximate answer to the question, several facts 
 will have to be noted which are strictly of a local 
 nature. 
 
 By reference to a map it will be seen that 
 the only land to the north and northeast of Sak- 
 halin is that of northeastern Siberia, including 
 Kamchatka. The greater part of the promon- 
 tory of Kamchatka is within precisely the same 
 latitude as Great Britain, yet the extreme cold- 
 ness of that region as compared with Great 
 Britain is a fact with which everybody is famil- 
 iar. About October two events of leading im- 
 portance in this consideration occur nearly or 
 quite simultaneously. The first is the freezing 
 of parts of the Okhotsk Sea; the second, the set- 
 301 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 ting in of a northeast wind. This wind, which 
 thenceforward continues all through the winter, 
 at once increases the force of the perpetual 
 northeast currents, which not only carry the 
 newly formed fields of ice and pile them up all 
 along the eastern coast of Sakhalin, but impel 
 them through the Bay of Amur, choking up 
 the narrow channel opposite Pogobi, filling up 
 the Gulf of Tartary, and forming a junction with 
 the floes driving through La Perouse Strait 
 from the east, thus completing the chain by 
 which the entire island is completely bound and 
 locked in rugged ice for the entire winter. 
 
 The Sea of Okhotsk in due time becomes 
 completely frozen over, and remains so from 
 that time till the spring of the following year. 
 During all this prolonged winter time, the whole 
 distance between Sakhalin and the north pole 
 is one unbroken area of snow and ice, the island 
 being a continuation, an appendage, of this im- 
 mense frozen area. Over this immense arctic 
 area sweeps the northeast wind that prevails in 
 Sakhalin throughout the winter. The cold it 
 brings with it, and the further cold incident to 
 the ice floes which it brings to the Sakhalin 
 shores at the beginning and end of the winter, 
 compel us to class it as among the first of the 
 local phenomena to which the low winter tem- 
 perature of Sakhalin may be attributed. 
 302 
 
The Climate of Sakhalin 
 
 To this northeast wind may also be largely 
 attributed another phenomenon for which Sak- 
 halin is notorious. During the prevalence of 
 this wind, the east coast in particular, and to a 
 great extent the island in general, is shrouded 
 in fogs, only slightly varying in density. Not 
 that it is the only cause of them, for, as I have 
 said, at all times there are strong and cold ocean 
 currents from the colder north impinging upon 
 the island. These strike with special force upon 
 the eastern coast, and in part continue their 
 course through La Perouse Strait, always tend- 
 ing to the precipitation of fogs, though they are 
 at their worst only when the northeast wind is 
 strongest and most persistent. 
 
 I have already stated that in all its fifteen 
 hundred miles of coast, Sakhalin is not only de- 
 void of a harbour worthy of the name, but does 
 not even possess a single spot anywhere which 
 is regarded as a safe anchorage. I recur to this 
 point here because of the intimate relation be- 
 tween this fact also and the prevailing winds 
 and currents under consideration. The absence 
 of safe harbours and anchorage is not owing to 
 the absence of bays and inlets. A reference to 
 the map of Sakhalin will show that, owing to 
 its extremely varied configuration, its bays and 
 inlets are, on the contrary, exceptionally nu- 
 merous. 
 
 303 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 The swift northeastern ocean currents, 
 which derive so much additional force from the 
 prevaihng northeast winds, combine to create 
 also this defect, which they perpetuate in several 
 ways. 
 
 For example, Nickolaivsk, just across the 
 channel from Sakhalin, for a long time, and 
 until recent years, was the one port of Siberia. 
 Dui, farther south, was and is still the one so- 
 called port of Sakhalin, and it was once thought 
 that it could be made into an excellent harbour. 
 The strength of the northeast ocean current, 
 however, has kept the delta of the Amur in 
 such a shifting and dangerous state that sea- 
 going vessels have for some time almost entirely 
 avoided the harbour of Nickolaivsk. Yet, so 
 far as an inspection of the map would indicate, 
 the situation of Nickolaivsk would appear ex- 
 ceedingly favourable for a safe and permanent 
 port. 
 
 At Dui the force of these currents causes 
 the sea bottom to be so shifting and uncertain 
 from year to year, that even the Government 
 coasting steamer is obliged to anchor with great 
 care a long way from the shore, with which it 
 can have no communication except by lighters. 
 
 And this is not all that these currents do. 
 Engineers have not only contemplated, but have 
 several times commenced, the construction of 
 304 
 
The Climate of Sakhalin 
 
 harbour works and docks there, but the pro- 
 digious force with which these currents drive 
 the ice floes at the beginning and end of the 
 winter is so thoroughly irresistible that the 
 works which have been attempted over and over 
 again are now relinquished as impracticable. 
 
 From the dangers that beset the inhospitable 
 coasts of Sakhalin on the east and on the west, 
 there might be supposed to be a partial immu- 
 nity on the south. So there is, in certain parts 
 of the south coast, especially on the eastern 
 shore of the Bay of Aniva, and in the vicinity 
 of Korsakofifsk, in the northeastern portion of 
 this bay. This is not because the northeast 
 ocean current is less strong through La Perouse 
 Strait, but because of the prominent and ex- 
 tensive protection afiforded to Aniva Bay by 
 Cape Edonna. La Perouse Strait is directly 
 open to this current, and in line with it, but, in 
 consequence of the position of Cape Edonna, 
 the course of the current is diverted towards 
 the southern shore of the channel, where it 
 impinges with its greatest force upon the ex- 
 treme northern coast of Yezo, at about Cape 
 Soya and for a long distance to the west of it. 
 
 So much for some of the local natural causes 
 
 of the coldness of the winter climate of Sakhalin, 
 
 and for the natural causes which, even if the 
 
 island were a free colony, would threaten a par- 
 
 - " 305 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 tial continuance at least of its exceptional and 
 almost unique isolation in comparison with the 
 others of the greater islands of the world. 
 
 We now come to the summer climate of 
 Sakhalin, and to the local natural causes for the 
 greatness of the contrast between it and the 
 winter climate. Our task on this point will be 
 a short one. About the month of May, the pre- 
 vailing wind is exactly the reverse, and for the 
 northeast wind there is substituted a southwest 
 wind, or monsoon as it is called, which is just 
 as continuous throughout the summer as the 
 northeast wind is in the winter. 
 
 As the line of direction of this wind traverses 
 t?he plains of India and the immense and for the 
 most part torrid area of southeastern Asia, the 
 land being continuous for about four thousand 
 miles, with only the Gulf of Tartary between the 
 mainland and Sakhalin; as the ice -floes simulta- 
 neously cease, and the ocean currents from the 
 north and northeast become less cold, and as, 
 further, the latitude of a great part of Sakhalin 
 is the same as that of Great Britain, it is not so 
 remarkable as it at first may appear, that, though 
 the winters in Sakhalin are so extremely cold, 
 the average summer weather in the southern 
 part of the island is more uniform and warm 
 than that of Great Britain. 
 
 As the fog conditions of the winter months 
 306 
 
The Natives of Sakhalin 
 
 are reversed in the summer, during the latter 
 season these fogs almost wholly disappear. For 
 weeks in succession I have seen the air there 
 as clear as I have found it in Nubia, and during 
 all those weeks I wore in southern Sakhalin 
 the same suits of white flannel and of duck 
 as both previously and subsequently I wore in 
 Ceylon. 
 
 The so-called native population of Sakhalin 
 is an exceedingly sparse one, and consists of 
 Gilyaks, Orokaps, and Ainus. 
 
 The Gilyaks, who are said to number about 
 three thousand, confine themselves to the north- 
 ern part of the island. 
 
 The Orokaps, said to be of the same stock 
 as the Orochons of the lower Amur, numbered, 
 I was told, not more than two or three hundred. 
 The Ainus, of whom I have given a detailed 
 account in my Life with Trans-Siberian Sav- 
 ages, are estimated at about three thousand. 
 They are now to be found only in the more 
 southern parts of the island, where they live in 
 villages in the interior of the interminable 
 forests. 
 
 The staple article of diet with all these tribes 
 is fish; but the Ainus are the hunters of the 
 island, and vary this diet with the flesh of 
 deer, bear, dog, and other wild animals. The 
 deer they kill with bows and arrows. In killing 
 307 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 the bear, their final reliance is upon long, sharp, 
 and strong knives, which they obtain by barter 
 from the Japanese; and in the taking of all kinds 
 of animals they are very skilful in the use of 
 concealed traps. They are naturally a mild, 
 gentle, and courteous race, but, with the capri- 
 ciousness which belongs to children and savages 
 everywhere, they can be very ferocious, as I 
 have found to my discomfort on more than one 
 occasion. The Ainus are regarded as the real 
 aborigines, first of Sakhalin, and subsequently 
 of Japan also. 
 
 The habits of these savages could never have 
 been more primitive than I found them. Their 
 huts are of the simplest description. The walls 
 and roof are of the roughest thatch, the latter 
 having a large hole in the top to let out some 
 of the smoke which rises from the fire in a shal- 
 low pit in the middle of the mud floor. 
 
 The clothing of these people varies as wide- 
 ly as the climate. During the summer they 
 cling to the freedom of nakedness. In win- 
 ter they wear most grotesque arrangements of 
 furs, and during the times intermediate thin 
 and surprisingly tough dresses made of dressed 
 fish-skin, the suits of this material for special 
 occasions being elaborately but roughly em- 
 broidered. Birch bark in its natural state is 
 added in patches to some of their garments, and 
 308 
 
The Natives of Sakhalin 
 
 a fabric of coarse texture made from the fibre 
 of it is also used by them for clothing. 
 
 The Ainus are unique among all human 
 races in this: that the entire body in both sexes 
 is covered with a growth of rather long hairs. 
 
 Looking at the rudeness of the huts of the 
 Ainus, and at the length and severity of their 
 unbroken winters, during which the tempera- 
 ture sometimes falls as low as fourteen degrees 
 below zero, it would seem at first thought that 
 the exposure of a single winter season would 
 effect the total extinction of these poor crea- 
 tures. But the hut of the summer becomes 
 simply the interior of what externally appears 
 in winter to be merely a snow mound with a 
 hole in the top. With the food their ant-like 
 habits have stored during the summer added to 
 the uninterrupted products of the chase, their 
 winter life, I am told, is, by comparison with 
 their summer life, not quite so terrible as might 
 be imagined. 
 
 In my book on my life with these people I 
 have shown that the Ainus of Sakhalin are prob- 
 ably the survivors of the most authentic and 
 ancient race of savages now to be found in Asia'. 
 
 I have been in contact with many tribes of 
 savages on the other continents, but the Ainus 
 of Sakhalin I regard as the most dirty and de- 
 vout, amiable and courteous, of any savages I 
 309 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 have had the pleasure of knowing, and I shall 
 never cease to be grateful to them for their gen- 
 erous, simple, unaffected hospitality. 
 
 The Japanese population consists of only a 
 few Japanese summer immigrants, occupying 
 temporary huts in some three or four fishing 
 stations on the eastern and southern coast under 
 the treaty regulations. 
 
 The civilized population is exclusively Rus- 
 sian, and the entire administration of the affairs 
 of the island, internal and external, pertains of 
 course to the Imperial Government of the Rus- 
 sian Empire, of which Sakhalin now forms a 
 part. In 1880 the number of exiles in Sakhalin 
 was said to be about three thousand, exclusive 
 of troops and ofHcers, civil and military. Since 
 that time, the numbers of these classes have 
 steadily increased, and are likely to do so here- 
 after in still larger proportions. 
 
 The wild animals of Sakhalin include deer, 
 bears, foxes, wolves, dogs, ermine, and other 
 smaller species. Tradition has added the tiger 
 to this list, this animal being said to have occa- 
 sionally strayed from Manchuria across the 
 frozen strait near Cape Lazarefif, but I have 
 never been able to obtain for this tradition the 
 most distant verification. 
 
 From these animals the Ainus, in particular, 
 obtain the meat by which their usual fish diet 
 310 
 
The Natives of Sakhalin 
 
 is sometimes varied, and the very excellent furs 
 with which they make their grotesquely patched 
 winter garments. With the surplus they obtain, 
 by barter, knives, arrowheads, fish-hooks, and 
 other rough implements from the Japanese 
 traders, who, under careful restrictions, are occa- 
 sionally allowed to touch the coast in their 
 vicinity for this purpose. These restrictions 
 include the total exclusion of fire-arms and of 
 anything which can induce intoxication. 
 
 These occasional barterings have never been 
 carried beyond the limit of the simple and 
 immediate wants of the aborigines. Nothing 
 which could be called a fur trade has ever ex- 
 isted in Sakhalin, and the prospect of such a 
 thing is even more remote now than at any pre- 
 vious period. The natives have neither motive 
 nor opportunity for attempting to create such a 
 trade. Although they may not happen to know 
 it, and have no occasion to feel it, the home of 
 these natives is entirely circumscribed within the 
 penal coast-lines, the security of which an open 
 trade would compromise. Supposing it were 
 allowed them, the only gain would be money, 
 which has neither use nor value with them, ex- 
 cept as ornaments for their women. 
 
 Russian convicts could not be allowed to en- 
 gage in the trade, and officers have other occu- 
 pations. 
 
 311 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 Even in the way of sport, the hunting of 
 wild animals is not one of the pastimes of the 
 Russian ofificer in Sakhalin. Strange as it may 
 seem to the English military officer, I never 
 heard the mention of a day's shooting in the 
 forests of the island by any one of the many 
 Russian officers stationed there. 
 
 They are not lacking in furs, however, and 
 from the number some of them showed me I 
 judged that they had other and easier ways of 
 getting as many as they cared to possess. 
 
 I was much struck with the tails of the foxes 
 in Sakhalin. They were at least twice as large 
 as any I have seen elsewhere. The colour on 
 the upper part was a light brown, the sides of 
 a beautiful gold tint graduated to a pure white 
 on the underpart. These were used chiefly for 
 the ornamentation of the heavier winter sleigh 
 robes. 
 
 Some naval officers with whom I took 
 luncheon on H. M. S. Leander, some months 
 afterward, told me that they went ashore on the 
 west coast of the island for a day's shooting in 
 the forest, but found, to their disappointment, 
 absolutely nothing. This did not surprise me, 
 however, for here, just as even in the best parts 
 of the Rocky Mountains, except by accident, 
 the larger animals are not likely to be found 
 except by the aborigines in the one case, 
 312 
 
The Fauna of Sakhalin 
 
 as by the trained trappers and hunters in the 
 other. 
 
 This is sufficiently illustrated in the narra- 
 tive I have elsewhere given of my own hunting 
 experiences with the Ainus. 
 
 With the exception of water-fowl, which are 
 wonderfully numerous in the bays and inlets on 
 the southern part of the island, I found no use 
 for a shotgun except in the vicinity of Korsa- 
 koffsk. Although I discovered that my ofBcial 
 friends strongly disliked my wandering far from 
 the settlement alone, I managed to bag a few 
 snipe, and one or two specimens of hazel 
 grouse. 
 
 The feathered tribe is very scantily repre- 
 sented in Sakhalin. If we omit the twittering 
 of an occasional sparrow in the shabbily kept 
 gardens of some of the officers, the song of birds 
 is an unknown sound. This all-pervading 
 silence deepens, if possible, the dreaminess of 
 the forests, in which the deadliness of the soli- 
 tude finds its most dismal expression. 
 
 One of my most delightful and astonishing 
 surprises in Sakhalin occurred near Cape Edon- 
 na, where I saw the kingfisher referred to in an 
 earlier chapter. 
 
 For a few days in July, much to my delight, 
 a few swallows came skimming through the sky, 
 sailing over the exercise yards of the main pris- 
 313 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 on with all the gaiety imaginable; then I saw 
 them no more. 
 
 On the beach near Cape Crillon I once saw 
 also some black crows, but I never encountered 
 any in any other part of the island. 
 
 While sailing along the coast of Sakhalin, the 
 traveller rarely sees a spot which is not covered 
 with wood. To the north of KorsakofTsk I 
 ascended the highest of the hills in that vicinity, 
 which in the beautiful weather then prevailing 
 commanded a view northward of at least fifty 
 miles in extent up the centre of that part of the 
 island, as well as to the east and the west, 
 but not a single spot clear of trees was visible. 
 Such an extensive stretch of primitive unbroken 
 forest, I think, I never beheld in any other part 
 of the world. If such a trip were possible, I 
 was told that one might start from Korsakoffsk, 
 half a mile back of the prison, and continue 
 northward for four or five hundred miles 
 through an unbroken forest. I never saw a 
 single tree on the island, however, which, either 
 for its size or its beauty, commanded my admi- 
 ration or fixed my attention. 
 
 Upon the mountains in the southern part of 
 the island the trees are mostly deciduous for 
 the first seven hundred feet; thence, to about a 
 thousand feet, conifers; thereafter, to about 
 twelve hundred feet, they are again deciduous. 
 314 
 
Natural Resources of Sakhalin 
 
 Beyond that the growth is chiefly pine, nearly 
 or quite to the summits. 
 
 The species which most abound are the Nor- 
 way spruce, fir, larch, the Siberian fir, birch, and 
 elm, the oak, and maple. Everywhere, however, 
 and in all cases, the growth is stunted and im- 
 perfect, none of the trees arriving at anything 
 like fair proportions. 
 
 There are said to be from six to eight hun- 
 dred kinds of phanerogamous plants growing in 
 the island, about twenty of which are peculiar to 
 Sakhalin. In the main, the various species cor- 
 respond pretty closely to those of the mainland 
 opposite and of Manchuria, in corresponding 
 latitudes. 
 
 The Resources of Sakhalin for a Pro- 
 spective Self-sustaining Colony 
 
 Russia does not pretend that she acquires 
 new territory chiefly for the benefit of the unfor- 
 tunate people to whom it belongs, as England 
 does. Among the lower motives which actu- 
 ated Russia in her sly and crafty scheming for 
 the acquisition of Sakhalin, doubtless one of the 
 strongest was the prospective possession of the 
 coal-beds now known as the Dui eoal-mines. 
 
 It is said that in the reports made by scien- 
 tific commissioners between i860 and 1867 it 
 was represented that these Jurassic coal layers 
 315 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 were inexhaustible in quantity and excellent in 
 quality. 
 
 Comparing my own observations with the 
 experience of several steamship captains who 
 have used it, I think I may say that the only 
 opinion as to its quality now is that it is com- 
 paratively inferior. It is said to contain from 
 60 to 70 per cent of pure carbon, but it is 
 of the " dusty nut " kind. It is not in demand 
 to any extent, therefore, for domestic uses, and 
 for steaming purposes is incomparably inferior 
 to the coal from Cardiff or Newcastle. Its price 
 is about six shillings higher than is paid for coal 
 in Japan; hence foreign steamers buy only as 
 much as their immediate necessity may require. 
 
 As this coal-mine is entirely a surface mine, 
 it is not very difficult to make an estimate of the 
 total quantity of coal it may be expected to 
 yield, and this is now found to be by no means 
 as inexhaustible as the early official reports rep- 
 resented it to be. The mines were at first 
 leased to a company. Under the terms of the 
 lease this company was allowed to employ four 
 hundred hard-labour convicts (Katorjriki) at 
 fixed wages, and was bound to supply to the 
 ships of the Russian Government a given quan- 
 tity per annum at specified rates. 
 
 Strange to say, this arrangement was un- 
 satisfactory to the convicts; further, it was unre- 
 316 
 
The Coal-Beds of Sakhalin 
 
 munerative to the contractors. After two or 
 three years the agreement was cancelled, and 
 from that time the mines have been worked 
 directly by the Government. 
 
 The total quantity of coal remaining in these 
 mines is now said not to exceed about eighty 
 thousand tons, and, as useful labour for the 
 convicts is so hard to find, the daily output is 
 kept down to the minimum requirement. 
 
 The relative value of this coal is likely to be 
 diminished in the future by the fact that in the 
 prosecution of cuttings for that part of the 
 trans-Siberian railway which is to run between 
 the Usuri valley and Vladivostok other coal de- 
 posits have been found, which are said to be both 
 larger in quantity and better in quality than 
 those in Sakhalin. As these newly discovered 
 deposits are alongside the railway running into 
 its near eastern terminus at Vladivostok, the 
 present headquarters of the Russian Asiatic 
 Squadron and the only safe harbour for foreign 
 shipping in that entire region, the demand upon 
 the coal-mines of Dui is likely to become ex- 
 ceedingly small. 
 
 The iron-mines near Alexandrovsk are also 
 on the west coast, and over a hundred miles to 
 the north of Dui. The early official reports on 
 these prospective mines were of the same en- 
 thusiastic kind as those about the coal-mines of 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 Dui. These iron-mines, like the coal-mines, 
 were also worked by contractors for two or 
 three years, and like them were also relinquished 
 and have since been irregularly worked directly 
 by the Government. I have not seen these 
 mines, but I was told by officers who had been 
 on duty there that both as to quantity and quali- 
 ty these iron-mines, from which so much was at 
 first expected, had turned out to be much more 
 disappointing than the coal-mines. 
 
 The question of the agricultural capacity of 
 the island is a large one, and any answer which 
 may be given must naturally include a good 
 deal of speculation, except as it may apply to 
 such areas as have come under actual obser- 
 vation. 
 
 ^ In 1 88 1 there was no Department of Agri- 
 culture in the Administration of Sakhalin, nor 
 had any definite lines been laid down on which 
 to attempt its development. At that early pe- 
 riod of its fixed occupation by Russia, the St. 
 Petersburg Academy of Sciences sent out Mr. 
 Polyakoff to Sakhalin, and his report to that 
 society was in many respects sufficiently in con- 
 trast to the official reports made by Government 
 officers between i860 and 1867 to create con- 
 siderable surprise and disappointment. 
 
 Mr. Polyakofif said that " one of the prin- 
 cipal valleys is inclosed by hills, which are both 
 
 318 
 
The Soil of Sakhalin 
 
 too steep and too barren to justify attempts at 
 cultivation. The bottom of the valley has but 
 a thin coating of arable soil, having clay for sub- 
 soil, making the whole exceedingly marshy. 
 One may walk upon it without sinking very 
 deeply in the mud, but it is intersected by 
 peat moors and deep marshes. . . . Nowhere 
 is the ground fit for agriculture. ... It mostly 
 resembles the worst parts of Olonets, with this 
 difference: that even in the forest it is often cov- 
 ered with pools of water. Even the kind of 
 cultivation which is carried on in Olonets by 
 means of clearing and burning the forests is 
 rendered impossible by the marshy ground of 
 the forests themselves. In the vicinity of Dui 
 these conditions render agriculture, and garden- 
 ing almost impossible. The few patches of better 
 land occasionally met with higher up the valley 
 are already under cultivation. The small settle- 
 ments of Rykovo and Malo-Tymovskaya are the 
 most appropriate spots for agriculture on all the 
 island, but even here has to be maintained the 
 same struggle against nature. Oats do not 
 ripen there, and only barley can be grown suc- 
 cessfully. As to the roads which connect these 
 settlements, they are simply impassable. Tracks 
 have been cut through the forests, but horses 
 sink in the marshes. Much hope had been 
 placed also in the valley of the Tym, which con- 
 319 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 tinues the Alexandrovsk valley to the northeast 
 and rea-ches the Sea of Okhotsk. But its marshy 
 soil, and still more the cold and fogs of the Sea 
 of Okhotsk, render agriculture quite impossible 
 in this valley except at its upper end. Its vege- 
 tation is sub-polar; and on the sea-coast it has 
 all the characters of the Tundra. 
 
 " If later on a few spots available for or- 
 chards and corn-fields can be found in the val- 
 ley of the Tym after a careful search, it would 
 be advisable to await the results obtained in the 
 already existing settlements before creating new 
 ones. All the more so, as great difficulty is 
 already experienced in supplying these settle- 
 ments with food, and as there is already a seri- 
 ous lack of provisions in the colony. 
 
 " As to the hope entertained by creating vil- 
 lages at the mouth of the Tym, it would be a 
 delusion to entertain it, as this is a region of 
 Tundras and polar-birch." 
 
 An Italian, Dr. Petri, writing in the Jahres- 
 bericht of the Berne Geographical Society for 
 1883-84, says: 
 
 " The whole colonization of Sakhalin is a big 
 lie circulated by the authorities." He claims 
 that, while the local authorities show on paper 
 that there are 2,700 acres under cultivation, 
 the survey of M. Karaulovski has shown that 
 only 1,375 are cultivated; that the 700 families 
 320 
 
The Soil of Sakhalin 
 
 of hard-labour convicts who were promised 
 twenty acres of arable soil per male soul, have 
 succeeded in clearing less than two acres per 
 family; that, in conclusion, the island is quite 
 unfit for agriculture, and that the Government 
 has been induced to take this mistaken step by 
 the false reports of people interested in the un- 
 dertaking. 
 
 These views of Mr. Polyakoff and Dr. Petri 
 I have taken partly from the original publica- 
 tions, and partly from transcriptions by Prince 
 Kropotkin in his In Russian and French Prisons. 
 
 Although I have no inclination to dispute 
 the accuracy of these impressions, it must be 
 borne in mind that they seem to relate almost 
 entirely to the middle part of the island, to the 
 north of the Bay of Patience, and to a region 
 east of Dui and extending northeast of Alexan- 
 drovsk, whereas it is the region south of the Bay 
 of Patience to which the attention of the Agri- 
 cultural Department, if not then, is now prin- 
 cipally directed. 
 
 It is unnecessary to remark that under any 
 circumstances agricultural development has to 
 be a very slow process, and that, while state- 
 ments by the officials who have it in charge are 
 apt to be coloured by their enthusiasm, adverse 
 and irresponsible critics are accused of being 
 prejudiced. The chief of the Agricultural De- 
 23 321 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 partment of Sakhalin told me a great deal about 
 the progress of the work being carried on in 
 various parts of the island under his superin- 
 tendence and guidance. His enthusiasm was so 
 great, and the expectations he expressed were 
 so hopeful, that I was obliged to believe that 
 they would not be indulged in by such a very 
 intelligent man after personal inspection of the 
 ground except for fairly good reasons. On this, 
 as on all other Russian matters, however, I pre- 
 ferred the evidence which was visible to my 
 own eyes. Having visited thirteen villages in 
 this southern district and inspected the farm 
 lands connected with them, my impressions of 
 them were moderately hopeful, although I 
 admit that they may have been incorrect. 
 
 In the building of new villages, the enter- 
 prise displayed astonished me. The quality of 
 the cottages is altogether better than is found 
 in any part of Siberia proper in the many agri- 
 cultural regions which I have visited. 
 
 According to the English standard, the term 
 farm could hardly be applied to any holding I 
 saw here. According to the farm standard of 
 very many parts of New England, however, as of 
 that of the poorer parts of Virginia and of certain 
 emigrant settlements in the West, the so-called 
 farms I visited would be estimated " poor to 
 middling." Some of the grass crops were lux- 
 322 
 
Agriculture in Sakhalin 
 
 uriantly high, but they were generally rank, 
 with a very undue admixture of weeds, and the 
 hay had little fragrance. During the summer 
 season it was almost the only food I ever saw 
 given to the horses we used, yet they certainly 
 managed to do as fast and continuous work on 
 the roads as the most ambitious driver could 
 desire. 
 
 The grain crops, which were largely of barley 
 and included some wheat, were everywhere 
 thin, and in some parts exceedingly scanty. 
 
 In the way of garden produce I saw some 
 capital crops of potatoes, and in a few places 
 some fairly good beet-root. In a few gardens I 
 also saw asparagus, cabbages, peas, French 
 beans and lettuce, and had the best proof that 
 some of them were as good as could be wished. 
 Cucumbers were in abundance, but not very 
 large. They were eaten everywhere, at almost 
 all times and places, in the same manner as other 
 people eat raw apples, and with as much mani- 
 fest relish. 
 
 The gooseberries, apples, cherries, and cran- 
 berries which I saw were none of them tempting 
 enough in appearance to induce me to try them, 
 and if used at all, it is only to a very limited ex- 
 tent, and in the form of conserves. The only 
 fruit I remember to have seen eaten uncooked, 
 as I have said, was the wild strawberry. These 
 323 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 were fairly sweet, of good flavour, and were 
 eaten largely with or without cream with it by 
 those who had it, without it by others who gen- 
 erally used a little sugar only. 
 
 The cultivated portions of land were gener- 
 ally of small area, and far apart. The general 
 appearance of the soil gave me the impression 
 that it was clayey and poor. Nowhere did I 
 see the smallest patch of land which looked dark, 
 rich, and fertile. 
 
 So far as I could discover, such a thing as 
 fertilizing is never thought of by the occupiers 
 of the land. The Bureau of Agriculture has a 
 thoroughly trained and scientific officer at its 
 head, who told me that, although no question 
 of that kind escapes his consideration, he has 
 perpetually to be struggling between limited re- 
 sources and the sluggish stupidity of the con- 
 vict cultivators. 
 
 It is certainly not in the quality of the soil 
 as I saw it, that an argument could have been 
 found for the colonization of this island, yet I 
 am bound to admit that I have seen other places 
 with a soil not much better which have been 
 colonized with great ultimate success. Of this 
 it would be difficult to mention instances more 
 conspicuous than some parts of the New Eng- 
 land States. The Pilgrim Fathers who landed 
 on Plymouth Rock had for soil little else than 
 3^4 
 
Agriculture in Sakhalin 
 
 the thin covering of other rocks farther inland, 
 the poverty of the region being ever since his- 
 torically notorious. Yet the success of the col- 
 onization of that region has been quoted as 
 almost beyond parallel. 
 
 Very large proportions of Norway and Swe- 
 den, and even of Scotland, are but little better 
 suited to agriculture so far as the soil is con- 
 cerned, and the same might also be said about 
 Newfoundland. In order, therefore, to main- 
 tain the alleged impossibility of a successful 
 colonization of Sakhalin, certain reasons must 
 be adduced other than those relating merely to 
 the general poverty of its soil. From what I 
 have seen of the success already attained there, 
 it struck me that stock-raising might be carried 
 on to an extent vastly beyond what has yet 
 been attempted. 
 
 Indisputably the real wealth of Sakhalin 
 should be sought in its surrounding waters, in 
 which the fish are perhaps more abundant than 
 in any other waters on the face of the globe, 
 except at some parts of the east coast of Kam- 
 chatka. 
 
 On the east coast of Sakhalin whales con- 
 tinue to be very numerous, notwithstanding the 
 reports to the contrary which I have seen, while 
 a little farther south throughout the Perouse 
 Strait, and also up along the coast on the west, 
 325 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 salmon-trout and herring are so numerous that 
 at times it has seemed as if it would be impos- 
 sible to drop a stone overboard without striking 
 some of them. On several occasions I have 
 fished with a net from the little wooden pier at 
 Korsakoffsk, and had it fairly well filled as fast 
 as I could haul it up and lower it again. 
 
 Right in sight of the eastern shore large- 
 sized steamers from distant countries can be 
 seen reaping rich harvests of whale and other 
 fish, while the oiBcials stationed there as resi- 
 dents simply look on, contenting themselves 
 with merely taking catches enough for the pres- 
 ent and winter use of their immediate locality, 
 including the supply for the draught dogs, 
 which eat nothing but fish all the year round. 
 It seemed to me that, if properly organized, 
 fisheries should be made the staple industry of 
 the colony, and that properly treated fish food 
 might not only more largely take the place of 
 the meat used on the island, but that it might 
 also yield a large direct revenue to the Imperial 
 Government. 
 
 If the colonists were free Japanese, instead 
 of Russian convicts, this fishing industry alone 
 would certainly not only make the island of Sak- 
 halin self-supporting, but financially productive. 
 
 In endeavouring to account for this appar- 
 ent dereliction and oversight, we are at once 
 326 
 
The Fisheries of Sakhalin 
 
 confronted with the specific and crucial imped- 
 iment, which at the very threshold makes im- 
 possible any comparison of that which might 
 be achieved by the present Administration in 
 Sakhalin with what might be accomplished 
 under different conditions; with that which has 
 been and is accompUshed in other countries 
 under natural conditions still less favourable. 
 
 Between convict-labour conditions and free- 
 labour conditions it is impossible in any respect 
 to institute fair comparisons. To put convicts to 
 deep-sea fishing would be to give them wings, 
 though only of canvas, and with these wings they 
 might fly to other lands, not within the original 
 intention when they were sentenced to Sakhalin. 
 This factor, which is integral, must, I fear, for 
 the present at least, be fatal to the use and de- 
 velopment of this, the most valuable of the natu- 
 ral resources pertaining to this island. 
 
 From personal inspection combined with 
 further information from resident officials on 
 the island, my impressions are that, with a fine 
 population, Sakhalin might become not only 
 self-sustaining, but might be made to yield a 
 moderate net revenue of profit to the Imperial 
 Government. During the penal colony period, 
 on the contrary, Sakhalin will scarcely fail to 
 have annual deficits to be met by the imperial 
 exchequer. Rapid and complete would be its 
 327 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 progress on the substitution or addition of free 
 emigrant labour on a large scale. 
 
 From what I saw in Sakhalin, it is my im- 
 pression that from a purely commercial stand- 
 point it would have been for the moment 
 cheaper for the Government if the larger num- 
 ber of the convicts now there had been hanged 
 where and when they were convicted, as they 
 would have been, say, in England. As the civil 
 judiciary in Russia, however, does not pretend 
 to the divine right of of^cial killing, the Crown 
 substitutes the more immediately expensive 
 method of treatment, securing absolute seques- 
 tration of the criminal from general society, 
 combined with continuous freedom for reforma- 
 tion, while his life shall last. 
 
 Regarding the primary purpose of Sakhalin, 
 its success cannot be questioned. The isola- 
 tion of the convict murderers from society, and 
 of society from them, is perhaps as complete as 
 if the convicts had been hanged. The security 
 of the coast-line enables the of^cials to allow 
 more freedom of physical exercise, while the 
 road-making and development of the natural 
 resources of the island provide useful occupa- 
 tion. The climate is upon the whole healthy; 
 and as for moral reformation, there is nothing 
 to prevent it. In all cases the temptations to 
 repetition of crime are practically at a minimum. 
 328 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE SIBERIAN PENAL 
 SYSTEM ITS AIM 
 
 Any person standing on the pinnacle of 
 Anglo-American twentieth-century civilization, 
 and looking down from this lofty height upon 
 the outside of the Siberian exile system, hoping 
 thence to form true conceptions and to make 
 just criticisms of that system, is morally certain 
 to fail in both respects. It is only as we ap- 
 proach this question from the inside, and from 
 the Russian standpoint, that we may hope to 
 succeed in either of them. 
 
 In order that we may comprehend this sub- 
 ject in its evolution, adaptation, development, 
 and final products, let us first look at the condi- 
 tions out of which it arose. 
 
 Accustomed as we are to the important po- 
 sition now occupied by Russia among the great 
 powers, it is difilicult to keep in mind that as a 
 civilized nation she is yet only in her infancy; 
 that only a little more than nine hundred years 
 ago her Emperor (Vladimir) was notorious for 
 329 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 his wholesale human sacrifices to his god 
 Peroun. 
 
 In the seventeenth century the monarchs of 
 the greater powers of Europe thought Httle 
 more of the Czar of Russia than we think of an 
 African potentate, and so late as 1735 it was 
 possible for Lord Bolingbroke, in his Letters on 
 History, to write as he did that '' the history of 
 the Muscovites has no relation to the knowl- 
 edge which a practical English statesman ought 
 to acquire." 
 
 In the year 1700 the present capital of this 
 Empire had no existence whatever, and the 
 land on which it was decided to erect it had 
 but just before belonged to a foreign power. 
 Yet this was the first port through which Euro- 
 pean civiHzation could begin to enter the Em- 
 pire. 
 
 The recognition of Russia by the great 
 powers as one of their number did not occur 
 until so late as 18 14, when the Emperor Alexan- 
 der, at the head of his troops, marched into 
 Paris as one of the allied conquerors. 
 
 The present so-called civilization in Russia 
 is not of Russia. It is yet new. It is for- 
 eign. It has never yet become amalgamated 
 into the life of the masses throughout the Em- 
 pire. Unlike some other nations, Japan for 
 example, she never, during a long period 
 330 
 
The Siberian Penal System 
 
 of isolation, wrought out anything of her 
 own worthy of being called a Russian civiliza- 
 tion. 
 
 One sufificient cause of this, and one deserv- 
 ing special attention because it was one of the 
 root causes also of the Siberian exile system 
 itself, is, in fact, that up to the close of the six- 
 teenth century the whole country was under the 
 blight and curse of nomadism. The Tartar 
 invasions were not by armies merely. They 
 consisted in movements of whole tribes and 
 their belongings, and these were so frequent, 
 and so devastating, that slaughter by fire, fam- 
 ine, and sword came to be almost as general 
 and as periodic as the ebbing and flowing of the 
 resistless tides. 
 
 The first general change towards stability 
 was effected by Boris Godunofif, by whose edict, 
 issued on the 24th of November, 1597, every 
 peasant was forbidden to leave the land on 
 which that date found him. By this act, which 
 nailed the peasant to the soil and made him 
 inseparable from it, was initiated the system 
 of serfdom which continued up to our own 
 times. 
 
 Our first acquaintance with Siberia dates 
 from about 1545, when Yermak Tinofief, at the 
 head of one of the Tartar hordes, to escape from 
 the hopeless crash of the fire-arms Ivan the Ter- 
 
 331 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 rible first brought against them, fled across the 
 Volga and built a fort on the banks of the 
 Irtish, on the site of a native village called " Si- 
 beer," since when all the territory beyond the 
 Urals has been called Siberia. 
 
 After Yermak Tinofief had gallantly pre- 
 sented this whole territory to the Czar, the won- 
 derful fertility and mineral richness of the re- 
 gion caused such an inrush of immigrants that 
 within about ninety-five years were founded 
 the towns of Tobolsk, Tomsk, Yakutsk, Irkutsk, 
 and even that of Okhotsk, on the extreme 
 eastern coast, on the shores of the Okhotsk 
 Sea. 
 
 In return for his gallant generosity the 
 Tartar chief and his tribe were installed by the 
 Czar as administrators of the whole territory. 
 
 When Peter the Great came to the throne, 
 he found that under these Tartar administrators, 
 with their incorrigible nomadic character, a 
 relapse had occurred so general and great that 
 the whole territory of Siberia threatened to re- 
 lapse and become merely a useless geographical 
 expression. He saw that the only solution of 
 the problem lay in colonization. The indispen- 
 sable factor was population. Throughout Rus- 
 sia proper the people under the laws of serfdom 
 were immovable. To get a population fixed in 
 a land where the restraints of serfdom were un- 
 332 
 
The Siberian Penal System 
 
 known, and which was entirely free, his first ex- 
 periment was to export thither men of other 
 than Tartar race, yet who were under imperial 
 control. Swedish prisoners of war were sent 
 there by the thousands. Afterward Russians 
 who, being prisoners, were under imperial con- 
 trol, were also sent in large numbers. Thus it 
 was hoped to secure in Siberia the same fixed 
 population which in Russia had been success- 
 fully obtained by serfdom. 
 
 It will thus be seen that the first cause of 
 the present Siberian exile system was Tartaric 
 nomadism. The motive was and is coloniza- 
 tion. The object was and is imperial develop- 
 ment and extension by growth. 
 
 Simultaneously with forced colonization in 
 Siberia, there has always been vigorously prose- 
 cuted a system of state-aided free emigration, 
 with inducements so liberal that, under a 
 system whose workings the author has wit- 
 nessed with considerable admiration, many thou- 
 sands of free persons go every year from Rus- 
 sia to Siberia, with as much enthusiasm as 
 the thousands of immigrants start from New 
 York for the more western States of America. 
 The author has seen one depot capable of 
 lodging five thousand of these emigrants en 
 route. 
 
 It is unnecessary to say that in the prosecu- 
 333 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 tion of Siberian colonization by the Russian 
 Government, the forced colonization by prison- 
 ers is its principal reliance. 
 
 The principles of the Siberian and Sakhalin 
 exile system may all be expressed in one sen- 
 tence, viz.: 
 
 The utilization of the prisoner for the high- 
 est good of the state. 
 
 Although simple, this statement of the case 
 will be found to be completely comprehensive. 
 The system pretends to no more than that, and 
 attempts no less. The state does not seek to 
 punish the prisoner, but to profit by him. The 
 segregation of the prisoner to the service of the 
 state implies protection of society from the 
 criminal. Getting the best out of the prisoner 
 of which he is capable, implies, as in using a 
 horse, that the prisoner is kept in fit condition 
 for it. 
 
 The production by the prisoner of his best 
 possible output for the state, implies, according 
 to the nature of his being, proportionately good 
 results, both physical and moral, in himself and 
 to himself, so that, even though he be innocent 
 of the alleged crime, he at least may maintain 
 his self-respect. Though the work at which he 
 is put be dictated not by his special skill, but by 
 a special need of the state, he may still be con- 
 soled by the fact that he is at least serving his 
 334 
 

The Siberian Penal System 
 
 country, and, as Dostoyefsky says, '' those who 
 shall come after him." 
 
 In accordance with the general imperial pol- 
 icy as described, the minute the prisoner arrives 
 at his Siberian destination, he is asked what he 
 can do best. If there is no pressing reason to 
 the contrary, he is at once employed according- 
 ly. If he has no special skill, he is put to such 
 work as the settlement most needs. Or, if the 
 prisoner shows special capacity, he may be put 
 under training in one of the prison shops as an 
 apprentice. If during his probationary prison 
 period he has commended himself, he is not 
 only allowed to do the best he can for himself 
 outside the prison under mild surveillance, but, 
 to get started, may receive temporary help from 
 the officials, subject to reimbursement at fixed 
 rates. This especially applies to agricultural 
 labourers, who receive allotments of land, 
 clothes, rations, implements, cattle, seed, etc., 
 for two years. This is done systematically by 
 the state, not for the good of the prisoner, but 
 for its own benefit. 
 
 Scattered throughout Siberia, in its towns 
 and cities, are scores of millionaires, the results 
 of that system, and the more of these the better 
 the Government likes it, because this all reacts 
 to the benefit of the state. A judge in St. 
 Petersburg or Moscow, looking at exile from 
 335 
 
Prisoners of Russia , 
 
 this point of view, feels very little compunction, 
 when sentencing a prisoner for a second or third 
 offence, in sending him to Siberia, knowing that 
 he is probably doing thus the best possible thing 
 for the prisoner, and at the same time is saving 
 society from one who would otherwise become 
 a habitual criminal. The judge knows that if 
 the prisoner, as an exile in Siberia, does not 
 ultimately make the most of himself, it will in 
 all probability be his own fault. It is a well- 
 known fact that when finally the famous De- 
 cembrists received a full pardon, more than two 
 thirds of their number elected to stay in Siberia 
 as their permanent home. 
 
 Under this system the Russian Government 
 does not waste even its murderers, but, like a 
 wise sanitary engineer in dealing with sewage, 
 protects society against them by removing 
 them, and then utiHzing them, so that, instead 
 of loss, the state gets an actual profit. That 
 there is punishment to the prisoner from first 
 to last, integral to his segregation, is inevitable, 
 but it is incidental. The effect upon the prison- 
 er, knowing as he does that this punishment is 
 of his own procuring, produces regret rather 
 than resentment. If he chooses to commit fresh 
 crimes, he knows that he may be flogged as 
 English boys are flogged at Eton. Further, it 
 must be admitted, this system includes no 
 336 
 
The Siberian Penal System 
 
 ostensible pretences to the reformation of the 
 prisoner. It simply puts him in conditions 
 which are favourable to it. Mental, moral, 
 religious improvement, in the case of the pris- 
 oner as in that of the free citizen, is regarded as 
 his own affair. 
 
 24 
 
 337 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 THE ANGLO-AMERICAN AND SIBERIAN PENAL 
 SYSTEMS CONTRASTS 
 
 The principles of the penal systems of Eng- 
 land and America are, in every particular, in 
 direct contrast to those of the Siberian system. 
 
 These principles are expressed in one word; 
 that word is Punishment. This is the one mo- 
 tive, the one object. Worse still is the fact, that 
 the means adopted to secure this end cause 
 from the very first, and at every step, the deg- 
 radation and damage of the individual. 
 
 With an extravagance which disregards 
 cost, with only a few discredited exceptions, 
 as at Elmira, the structure, diet, occupation in 
 prisons, are all adapted to this one end. The 
 first step being to make the prisoner a useless 
 creature, the next is to compel him to regard 
 himself as such. 
 
 This principle of punishment, urged with a 
 
 conscientiousness which gains force from its 
 
 theological source, is not wholly divorced from 
 
 sentiment. For while in practice its first effect 
 
 338 
 
The Anglo-American Penal System 
 
 is to extinguish all humanity in the prisoner, 
 the prison regime always includes compulsory 
 religious services, ostensibly for his salvation. 
 
 In England, where the state includes what 
 is called *' the Church," and every prison has a 
 chaplain of that Church who holds '' compul- 
 sory " daily services, the treatment of every 
 hard-labour convict in every model convict pris- 
 on may, I think, be sufficient to illustrate my 
 general contention. In these, the best prisons 
 of the latest model type in either country, the 
 convict who, on entering, is converted into a 
 numeral, is for the first nine months in all cases 
 put into confinement so absolutely solitary that 
 up to the end of that period he may perhaps 
 not have once heard the sound of his own voice. 
 Utterly regardless of trade, personal manual 
 skill, or previous training, the occupation 
 assigned to each is exactly the same for all. 
 It consists in turning a self-recording iron crank 
 in his cell up to a stated number of revolutions, 
 the screw being put on by the warden, accord- 
 ing to the desired hardness. The prisoner is care- 
 fully made to understand that this crank turns 
 nothing, that it is for punishment. An alterna- 
 tive punishment to this is the bread wheel. This 
 means six hours a day in a solitary compart- 
 ment, the inclined floor of which is a revolving 
 wheel a misstep of the prisoner being at his 
 339 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 own peril. The prisoner is made to know that 
 this wheel turns nothing, that it is exclusively 
 for punishment. It is not improbable that this 
 routine might be continued unbroken for years, 
 or for life. 
 
 Another form of hard labour, which, being 
 milder, is given to women and is used more than 
 any other, is '' oakum picking." Old tar rope- 
 ends as hard as wood have to be reduced to 
 their original fibre with the fingers alone. This 
 labour would seem to have a use, but the prison- 
 er knows that the material is, at the end of his 
 labour on it, sold for less than was paid for it 
 at the beginning; that the work is exclusively 
 for punishment. 
 
 The prisoner is not compelled to go once a 
 day to his solitary cell in church, but for a refu- 
 sal he receives a bad mark which is equivalent to 
 a prolongation of his term. Take the original 
 ground plans of all the prisons in England, and 
 not in one of them, even the latest and best, will 
 be found structural provision for a single school- 
 room or a single workshop other than for do- 
 mestic requirement. Nor is there any financial 
 provision for the employment of a single outside 
 mechanical instructor. While recently watch- 
 ing the working of the tread-wheel in a cathe- 
 dral city, the author asked a question of the 
 prison governor, who replied, " Yes, our wheel 
 340 
 
The Anglo- American Penal System 
 
 used to pump the water and supply the whole 
 prison, but the beggars found it out and didn't 
 mind it so much, so now we pay the water com- 
 pany for our water. We want these chaps to 
 know what they are here for is punishment. 
 The country can afford it, and, so far as I am 
 concerned, I'll see that they shall have it." 
 
 Thus it comes to pass that, whereas the ma- 
 jority of all the prisoners up to the time of their 
 arrest were maintaining themselves and fami- 
 lies, from the moment of their conviction the 
 country spends about five hundred thousand 
 dollars a year on their maintenance in idleness, 
 for the pious luxury of giving them their pun- 
 ishment. The Spaniards, who maintain their 
 bulls, at least see the sport, but the British pub- 
 lic is more easily satisfied; the punishment is 
 solitary. 
 
 It is true that, to allay some public discon- 
 tent, since the report of Mr. Herbert Gladstone's 
 committee, some amateur experiments by ward- 
 ens have been allowed in the employment of 
 some prisoners in making goods for the War and 
 Post Office Departments, that a subordinate 
 official has ostentatiously been denominated as 
 Chief of the Department of Industries, and that 
 for this the prison commissioners have claimed 
 excellent success. A very unsatisfactory evi- 
 dence of this so-called success is found in the fact 
 341 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 that, whereas in 1896 the net cost of prisoners in 
 prison was a Httle over 22 per head, it was in 
 1897, at the period of this alleged manufactur- 
 ing success, over and above earnings, 22 6^. 
 8c?., showing a loss rather than a saving in the 
 general result. Even in these more recent 
 efforts, as in all others previously made, the 
 question has never been how to help, or to 
 make the men do the best of which they are 
 capable. On the contrary, the labour selected 
 has always been that of the very lowest grade 
 obtainable, and for all prisoners in common. 
 
 In evidence on these points from the near- 
 est and highest official authority, the following 
 short quotations are made from the Annual 
 Official Reports of the Superintendent of the 
 State Prisons of the State of New York during 
 the period of the productive labour experi- 
 ments: 
 
 In 1878: ''The increase of industries and 
 profitable forms of labour I regard as the prin- 
 cipal cause of the improvement in the moral 
 and physical condition of the prisoners as com- 
 pared with the time when there was idleness." 
 
 In 1879: "The number of recommitals is 
 now much less than is generally supposed and 
 is now gradually decreasing. ... It is known 
 that many who have learned within the prison 
 how to maintain themselves by industries have 
 342 
 
The Anglo-American Penal System 
 
 abandoned their criminal careers in favour of 
 honest employments." 
 
 In 1883: ''What is demonstrated is: First, 
 the productive energy and capacity of the pris- 
 oners are constantly increasing. An enormous 
 deficit has been changed to a surplus of over 
 $54,000. Second, the physical and moral con- 
 dition of the prisoners is steadily improving. 
 
 " Third. The number of prisoners is grad- 
 ually diminishing, although the population of 
 the State is increasing. 
 
 " Fourth. The discipline is more thorough 
 and easily maintained, with fewer punishments 
 and penalties. 
 
 " Fifth. The deterrent and corrective po- 
 tency of imprisonment is visibly augmented." 
 
 In 1884: " Surplus, $9,106.23. The morale 
 makes discipline easy. Of 1,522 prisoners, only 
 8 were locked up for refractoriness, and not one 
 for more than a day or two. The physician says 
 that the prisoners feel the play of moral forces. 
 They have increased self-respect. Their obe- 
 dience is cheerful and voluntary, their physical 
 condition is most satisfactory. The progress 
 during the past eight years has been beyond 
 parallel in this State, and during the past fiscal 
 year the greatest ever known. The increase in 
 population has been 15 per cent, the decrease 
 in convicts 19 per cent." 
 343 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 In 1885: " The amount of productive indus- 
 try has been in excess of any previous year. 
 (Surplus, $73,002.31 for Sing Sing.) Not for 
 many years has there been so small a percentage 
 of punishment for breach of discipline." 
 
 In 1886: Surplus, Sing Sing, $75,066.22; 
 for whole State, $33,647. " It is an incontro- 
 vertible fact that it worked out grand results. 
 It fulfilled every requisite in prison administra- 
 tion. It changed a large annual deficit into a 
 surplus. It secured a high state of discipline, 
 health, morale in the prison population." 
 
 In 1888: Prison industries were abolished. 
 
 In 1889: Deficit, $369,274.25. "The con- 
 victs are immeasurably worse ofif at present than 
 when they could earn their living. After this 
 grand, good, physical, financial, and moral dem- 
 onstration of the value of systematic labour, the 
 position was abandoned. The fiscal balance was 
 changed from surplus to deficit. In this the 
 criminals were deprived of the most regenera- 
 ting remedy prison reforrners ever found." 
 
 In 1 891: "Without productive labour there 
 can be no reformation of criminals." 
 
 The systems in the United States and in 
 England are practically the same, each by simi- 
 lar methods seeking two ends the punishment 
 of the prisoners, and the protection of the pub- 
 lic. Throughout the United States, partly in 
 
 344 
 
The Anglo-American Penal System 
 
 consequence of the dominance of the same prin- 
 ciple as in England, and partly through the po- 
 litical influence of rich manufacturers, imprison- 
 ment implies forced pauperization of the pris- 
 oner while in prison, and through this secures 
 disqualification, physically and morally, for 
 everything but pauperism for the rest of his life 
 after his discharge. That this artificial, unnatu- 
 ral and unjust condition of things is not, as is 
 sometimes alleged in excuse for it, an unavoid- 
 able one in the treatment of convicts, has been 
 amply proved by the few and fitful experiments 
 in the more natural and just methods of self- 
 maintenance, and the success which has attended 
 them not only in the United States, but more 
 especially in Germany, as well as in other coun- 
 tries, including India and Japan, as witnessed 
 by the author. 
 
 From 1 88 1 to 1886 an experiment of this 
 character was made in New York State with this 
 result, that, after paying all gross costs of all the 
 State prisons, hospitals, and lunatic asylums, 
 there was a net profit to the State for that pe- 
 riod of $33,647.44. In 1886 the net profits to 
 the State, after paying all gross costs of main- 
 tenance, were $75,066.22 from Sing Sing prison 
 alone. 
 
 For every year during that period the ward- 
 en of every one of these prisons reported a cor- 
 345 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 responding improvement in the physical health, 
 discipline, and moral tone of its inmates. In 
 spite of these incontrovertible facts, in conse- 
 quence of subsequent political influence of the 
 kind I have mentioned, all this was stopped, the 
 entire system reversed, and the deficit which 
 the ratepayers had to meet in 1897 was, for 
 Sing Sing alone, $174,098.71; and for the whole 
 State, $561,376.27. What were the moral re- 
 sults of this change? The report of the State 
 Superintendent of Prisons, William A. Lathrop, 
 says: 
 
 *' The reports of wardens, physicians, and 
 chaplaijis show that the moral and sanitary 
 condition of the prison population culminated 
 in the period when productive work was most 
 regular." But, under the later and present 
 methods, the annual State reports have been of 
 an exactly opposite character. In that of 1888 
 the Superintendent says, among his conclusions, 
 " without productive labour there can be no 
 reformation of criminals. . . . For such phys- 
 ical, mental, and moral well-being as is attain- 
 able in prison the continuous employment at la- 
 bour of prisoners is necessary." In 1891 the 
 warden of Clinton Prison reported that under 
 the later conditions of forced idleness or labour 
 of an unproductive character, " it required tact 
 and patience to avert unpleasant consequences." 
 346 
 
The Siberian Penal System 
 
 Bad health, debased morals, more frequent 
 insanity, and sometimes suicide, are quoted as 
 recognised and direct results of a return to the 
 punishment policy at the money cost above 
 stated. 
 
 These Principles and Systems tested by 
 THEIR Results and Products 
 
 It will be observed that the author has not 
 attempted to deny the alleged cruelties incident 
 to the Siberian exile system due to maladminis- 
 tration. To have done so would have meant 
 endless and fruitless disputation. Knowing how 
 much in all the public departments the Russian 
 official has shown a genius for maladministra- 
 tion, knowing from personal observation the 
 difficulties and dangers which even in well- 
 equipped armies attend the movements of large 
 bodies of men over long distances, familiar with 
 the isolation, the necessary absolutism which has 
 pertained to Siberian penal colonization, the 
 author repeats, what he has previously admitted, 
 that at one time or another almost anything 
 may have been possible. Much that was un- 
 avoidable, such as even in free conditions 
 marked the frightful history of the earlier col- 
 onization of California and the far western 
 American States, may have happened; much 
 may have been due to official neglect, wanton- 
 347 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 ness, greed, and despotism, resulting in an incal- 
 culable aggregate of human suffering. For the 
 sake of the argument let us admit that all the 
 past allegations of cruelty, including those made 
 by dramatists, novelists, poets, convicts, exiles, 
 and travellers, are true, every word of them. 
 The contention of the author, however, is that 
 these things, so far as true, have been incidents 
 arising from the maladministration of the sys- 
 tem. They have formed no integral part of that 
 system itself. It was not for these cruelties that 
 the system existed. They must be regarded as 
 accidents arising out of conditions which happily 
 are improving and can never be repeated in Hke 
 proportions. Thus much for the principles of 
 the Siberian system, about which there can be 
 no dispute, and for any of the principles of the 
 English and American systems, about which 
 also there can be no dispute. Let us inquire 
 now into the main results of these respective 
 principles. We have examined the trees, let us 
 now look at the fruits they have yielded. 
 
 One of the net products of the Siberian sys- 
 tem first mentionable is Sakhalin itself, the sub- 
 ject of this book. 
 
 So late as 1850 it was so little known that 
 a British map made it a promontory. This 
 island, which is as long as England, and which 
 in 1875 was without an acre of cultivation, has 
 
 348 
 
The Siberian Penal System 
 
 by this system been redeemed from barbarism, 
 has its imports not only, but its exports; its 
 Christian churches, its clergy, with an archi- 
 mandrite at their head During 1890 and in 
 1896 the author saw not only specimens of its 
 various new products, but a variety of finished 
 manufactures, including ornamental wrought- 
 iron work, and inlaid cabinet work, equal to 
 much that is made in Paris. All this within 
 twenty years of its coming exclusively under 
 the Siberian exile system. 
 
 Of all the achievements of this twentieth 
 century, that which has perhaps most excited 
 the surprise, admiration, and envy of the other 
 nations of Europe, has been the Trans-Siberian 
 Railway, the mere prestige of which, even in 
 advance of its completion, enabled Russia to 
 assume an unlooked-for domination in the far- 
 ther Orient. 
 
 It has been previously shown how the col- 
 onization of Siberia was possible in no other 
 way but by the Siberian exile system. It may 
 now be pointed out that it was only by means 
 of the preliminary colonization by this system 
 that the building, maintenance, and working 
 of this road could possibly have been made prac- 
 ticable. 
 
 Hence, the Trans-Siberian Railroad itself, 
 and the imperial territorial extension recently 
 349 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 incident to it, may fairly be adduced as the prod- 
 ucts of the Siberian exile system. 
 
 It is further worthy of note that this un- 
 equalled area of Siberia, with its numerous abo- 
 riginal tribes, has from the beginning and until 
 now been held and kept intact without the loss 
 of one imperial soldier by war. Bearing in mind 
 the extent and steady extension of this terri- 
 tory, this fact may be regarded as one entirely 
 without parallel. It is not too much to say that 
 this fact also has been largely due to the Sibe- 
 rian exile system, and to the noiseless, quiet way 
 in which the penal colonies have occupied the 
 land they had, and crept forward, absorbing that 
 which lay next beyond. 
 
 The After Results and Products of the 
 Principles in the American and Eng- 
 lish Penal Systems 
 
 Taking Sing Sing Prison, New York, as one 
 of the very highest repute of its type in any part 
 of the United States, it has been shown that its 
 most conspicuous product was for the year 1897 
 a deficit for the ratepayer of $174,098.71, while 
 for the whole State of New York there was a 
 deficit of $516,376.27 as the cost of punish- 
 ment, with not a single pleasing product to 
 which we can point as an offset. 
 
 This deficit is but the first cost of punish- 
 350 
 
The Anglo-American Penal System 
 
 ment. It is computed that the ex-prisoners 
 who, by the perniciousness of the prison system, 
 have, after their first discharge, become habit- 
 ual paupers or criminals directly or indirectly 
 cost the State, when out of prison, about eight 
 times as much as their maintenance when in 
 prison; and that this annual outside cost is yearly 
 increasing is officially acknowledged. 
 
 This is a black picture, yet beyond it, but 
 for the few reformations which do not come 
 under our category, there is no other product 
 to which we can point in return for the prodig- 
 ious outlay on organized human torture. 
 
 In England, under these principles, the first 
 conspicuous product is again a corresponding 
 deficit, the annual net cost of punishing. This 
 averages about 500,000 per annum. This is 
 the first cost for maintaining about 20,000 pris- 
 oners in prison. The next larger and much 
 more significant product is a deficit cost of 
 about four millions sterling. This is what it 
 costs to look after the 21,000 graduates from 
 the prisons, known as habitual criminals. Such 
 is the certainty of the moral degradation from 
 the first imprisonment, that a parliamentary re- 
 port of 1895 states as follows: 
 
 '' The proportion of reconvictions during the 
 past twenty years has constantly increased. Of 
 those convicted a second time 48 per cent re- 
 351 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 turn again; a third time, 64 per cent; a fifth, 79 
 per cent, and the old offender is constantly re- 
 turning." 
 
 The author himself was in one prison in 
 which one prisoner was serving his two hundred 
 and eightieth sentence, and in another where a 
 prisoner was serving his three hundred and fifty- 
 seventh term of imprisonment. 
 
 The total deficit to the Government on ac- 
 count of criminals is estimated at ten millions 
 sterling per annum. 
 
 The reformatories cost rather less per head 
 than the prisons. Of those discharged from the 
 reformatories only about 14 per cent ever re- 
 lapse. Of those discharged from the prisons, 
 more than 50 per cent of the whole number be- 
 come habitual criminals, and never again rise 
 above that condition. It is this habitual crimi- 
 nal class which is of all others the worst direct 
 product of this prison punishment system, and 
 which presents one of the most difficult prob- 
 lems with which the nation has to deal. This 
 holds in both countries, England and America 
 alike. It should excite no surprise, however, as 
 this is exactly the result for which the whole 
 system is adapted. Convert a man into a wild 
 beast when released his only resource is 
 plunder. 
 
 After a careful inspection of these systems 
 352 
 
The Anglo-American Penal System 
 
 where they are practised, should the author ven- 
 ture upon stating his impressions he would say, 
 that in America and in England, but perhaps in 
 England more especially, the administration is 
 remarkably good, the principles outrageously 
 inhuman and bad. In the Siberian system the 
 administration has rarely been good and fre- 
 quently has been outrageously bad, but as re- 
 gards the general principles of the Siberian sys- 
 tem, they are in accordance with the constitu- 
 tion of man, of laws both natural and revealed, 
 and are therefore exceedingly good; and the re- 
 spective results go to establish this conclusion. 
 
 5 
 
 353 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 
 THE UNIVERSAL APPLICATION OF THE SIBERIAN 
 SYSTEM 
 
 Although the facts submitted show that, 
 upon the whole and in the long run, the Sibe- 
 rian exile system has been working out incal- 
 culable advantage to the Russian Empire, and 
 that, through the quicker transit across the 
 world, the Siberian Railway resulting from this 
 system is conferring a promised boon to all the 
 nations and peoples of the world, it may easily 
 be retorted in defence of the contrasting useless- 
 ness, damage, and waste from other penal sys- 
 tems, that the other countries have no Siberia. 
 
 This retort rather augments than diminishes 
 the credit due to the principle under considera- 
 tion, for in no other country can a problem so 
 formidable as was the Siberian problem be en- 
 countered in the application of those principles. 
 
 The principle under consideration, which is 
 universal in its application, is much easier of ex- 
 ecution within areas smaller and more acces- 
 sible. The methods by which the principle may 
 354 
 
Siberian System Universally Applied 
 
 be best carried out in one country are not for 
 imitation by any other country. Nor are the 
 methods of to-day the best methods for to- 
 morrow. 
 
 The history of imitations of penal methods, 
 different countries trying to follow each other, 
 has been a history of mistakes. The great need 
 has been a central principle of universal applica- 
 tion. This principle is here presented. The 
 methods of its application must be evolved from 
 thejocal conditions in each case. 
 
 Unity of principle, diversity of application 
 according to local requirement, is the only con- 
 dition of successful solution of the general penal 
 problem. 
 
 As examples which have come under the ob- 
 servation of the author at different times may 
 be mentioned, the penal farm lands in Yezo, 
 Japan, the carpet factories in India, the agricul- 
 tural industries in Holland, the iron and other 
 industries in Moscow, the thirty-three separate 
 trades in one prison in Germany, the twenty- 
 two trades in operation in one prison in Bel- 
 gium, and even the scavenging work in Havana. 
 
 In all these institutions the methods, though 
 so diverse, offer illustrations of the best local ex- 
 pression of the common principle of the utili- 
 zation of the prison for the highest good' of the 
 state, even though the ofificials concerned were 
 
 355 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 in many cases unconscious of the formula as 
 here expressed. 
 
 As preliminary to all considerations for the 
 prevention of crime or the treatment of crimi- 
 nals, it is important that we cease to think of 
 them as a separate and different class of beings, 
 but regard each prisoner as a person who is one 
 of ourselves. 
 
 Through the public schools, or otherwise, 
 everybody should in advance know that it is a 
 primary penal principle that whoever elects to 
 commit a crime must pay for it, and that the 
 personal earnings prior to release must at least 
 cover the cost of arrest, conviction, and main- 
 tenance. As a general basis of punishment this 
 would be easily understood, the equity of it 
 would promote general respect for the laws, and 
 the warning would be both wholesome and 
 timely for the prevention of first offences. 
 
 No able-bodied prisoner should have any- 
 thing which he has not earned. Every prison 
 should be a place in which the prisoner sent 
 to it can best serve some present need of the 
 state, or can be made to yield to the state the 
 largest net earnings of which he is, or can be 
 made to be, capable. 
 
 All prisoners who by a given number of con-* 
 victions have proved their incapacity for useful 
 citizenship unaided, should On further convic- 
 356 
 
Siberian System Universally Applied 
 
 tion be appropriated by the state for life, under 
 forced labour conditions of mutual advantage. 
 
 The punishment in this system would be in 
 the personal loss of Hberty, the personal loss of 
 net earnings. 
 
 Its advantage to the state would be that, in- 
 stead of a financial loss, the prisons would be a 
 source of net profit for the relief of poor rate- 
 payers. The habitual drunkard and the habit- 
 ual professional criminal as a class would cease 
 to exist. 
 
 The advantage to the prisoner would be that, 
 even though he might have been wrongly con- 
 victed, there would be nothing in the life mor- 
 ally degrading, and on proof of his innocence 
 his net earnings should be paid to him. If 
 guilty, his time would be spent in doing the 
 most and best of which he was manually capable 
 for the state, so that on release he would have 
 the surest basis from which to proceed to do 
 the most and best of which he was capable for 
 himself. 
 
 Moreover, leaving prison as he would, with 
 the feeling that he had compensated the state 
 and had completely expiated, he could start 
 again on an honest, self-respecting basis, without 
 the self-contempt, resentment, or revenge en- 
 gendered by unproductive and degrading toil 
 devised for punishment, but felt as torture. 
 357 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 All the statistics in America and in England 
 show that the model punishment system does 
 not prevent crime, but, by first of all degrading 
 the criminal, multiplies, intensifies, and perpetu- 
 ates it, and so does harm, and only harm and 
 incurable harm, to everybody concerned. 
 
 By contrast, the proposed penal system 
 based on the principle of compensation, by deal- 
 ing with the prisoner from first to last as a fel- 
 low-man, with manifest reasonableness, and sole- 
 ly in equity to the prisoner, would, in the whole 
 course of treatment, be integrally strengthening 
 and elevating. To have served a term in pris- 
 on, instead of being a permanent disqualifica- 
 tion, would be rather a guarantee, at the least, 
 of fitness for self-maintenance. The discharge 
 would be on terms honourable to the prisoner, 
 who would have a fair prospect of a return to 
 good citizenship. 
 
 As regards prevention, correction, and 
 future guarantee, this system of punishment by 
 forced compensation, in direct contrast to that 
 now in use, promises good and only good to 
 everybody concerned, bringing benefit to the 
 individual prisoner and profit to the state. 
 
 358 
 
CHAPTER XXII 
 
 FROM SAKHALIN TO YEZO 
 
 Owing to the approach of winter, my time 
 for the special studies I have recounted had 
 almost expired. I still adhered to my original 
 intention of crossing the Straits of La Perouse, 
 striking the most northerly point of Yezo at 
 Cape Soya, and thence traversing the entire 
 length of Yezo and of the Japanese Empire, 
 from the extreme north, finishing at Nagasaki. 
 Cape Soya is scarcely farther from KorsakofTsk 
 than Calais is from Dover. Never was " so near 
 and yet so far " more literally illustrated. Ow- 
 ing to the dangerous nature of these waters and 
 neighbouring coasts, as I have described them 
 in the Geography of Sakhalin, I found it impos- 
 sible to find anybody who would undertake to 
 convey me across this channel. That this uni- 
 versal refusal to make the attempt was quite 
 justifiable, is more apparent to me now that I 
 have read the description of the opposite coast 
 by Mr. W. S. Landor, whom I afterward met at 
 Hakodate. Curiously enough, it seems that at 
 359 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 the very time I was trying to cross from Sakha- 
 lin he was making equally futile efforts to cross 
 the channel from the opposite direction. 
 
 In his book, Alone with the Hairy Ainu, 
 published some time after my own Life with 
 Trans-Siberian Savages, he says, in speaking of 
 this region on the opposite coast: 
 
 " For thirty or forty miles as far as the 
 Teshiwo River the beach was strewn with wrecks 
 and wreckage. Here you saw a boat smashed 
 to pieces; there a mast on the shore; further on 
 a wheel-house washed away by the waves; then, 
 the helm of a disabled ship. It was a sight sad 
 enough to break one's heart with all the tragic 
 circumstances it suggested. Between Bakkai 
 and Wadamanai especially, I do not think one 
 can go more than a few yards at a time without 
 being reminded, by wreckage which is strewn 
 thick on the coast, of some calamity. A white 
 life-boat, with her stern smashed, lay on the 
 sand helpless to save and as a kind of satire on 
 her name; and at Wadamanai a large Russian 
 cruiser, the Crisorot, dismasted and broken in 
 two, lay flat on the beach half covered with sand. 
 Her bridge had been washed away and her deck 
 had sunk in. Some of the bodies of her gallant 
 ofBcers and crew had been washed ashore by 
 the sea. No one knows in what circumstances 
 the ship was lost, but it is probable that during 
 360 
 
From Sakhalin to Yezo ^ 
 
 the last winter when she came to her ill-fated 
 end, her rigging and sails got top-heavy with ice 
 and that she capsized. Some of the wreckage 
 one finds on that coast has been drifted there 
 from the Chinese Sea by the Kuroshiwa cur- 
 rent; and then, owing to La Perouse Strait turn- 
 ing so sharply to the east, has been left on this 
 last portion of the coast. Here and there a 
 rough tent made with a torn sail, or a deserted 
 shed knocked up out of pieces of wreckage, is a 
 suggestive reminder that some unfortunate 
 derelict seafarer had suffered and striven for 
 life on these forlorn sands. An enormous quan- 
 tity of drift logs and here and there some bones 
 of whales are strewn all along the beach." 
 
 After speaking of the loss of the Ertogroul 
 in a typhoon near Yokohama, he says: 
 
 " Let us return to Cape Soya, where we 
 have left the wreck. The rapid current which 
 comes through the strait gives a horrid look to 
 the water, and I have never seen the sea look 
 so vicious. The natives of the small Soya 'vil- 
 lage told me that it is impossible to cross over to 
 Sakhalin, the high mountains of which, covered 
 with snow and glaciers, I could see distinctly. 
 [These were not visible to persons in Sakhalin.] 
 The distance from land to land is about twenty- 
 eight miles, but no small boat can get across 
 without being swamped. They told me also 
 361 
 
p Prisoners of Russia 
 
 that often dead bodies of Russians are washed 
 ashore, probably unfortunate convicts who 
 found their death in attempting to obtain 
 Hberty. H. M. S. Rattler was wrecked in 
 1868 on one of the numerous reefs near this 
 cape, so the record of Soya could hardly be 
 more mournful. In the winter time this bay 
 is completely blocked with ice, but the strait 
 itself is never entirely frozen owing to the 
 strong warm current from the Chinese Sea, 
 which the Japanese call by the name of Kuro- 
 shiwa. 
 
 " It is from this point that one gets the first 
 view of Soya Cape. Going round a bay one 
 passes a few fishermen's houses, and on the 
 cliffs above them has been erected the Silensi 
 lighthouse. I cleared the cape and rounded 
 the bay on the other side, where I saw another 
 wreck of a sailing ship dashed upon the rocks, 
 making the scene a sad one. I still went on, 
 and went round two or three smaller head- 
 lands, when the melancholy sight stood before 
 me. This last ship had her stern out of the 
 waters, and a Turkish name was painted on it. 
 Her appearance also was Turkish, and I was 
 more than once puzzled as to what a Turkish 
 ship could have been doing in La Perouse 
 Strait. . . . The mission of the ship in those 
 far-ofY seas was a mysterious one. No one ever 
 362 
 
From Sakhalin to Yezo 
 
 knew exactly whence she came or whither she 
 was bound." 
 
 The notion that from the shortness of the 
 distance on the map I could cross these straits 
 if necessary in a rowboat just as I had once 
 crossed the English Channel from Boulogne to 
 Dover, I found to be quite fallacious, and to my 
 great annoyance this plan had to be given up. 
 It was known that there were two Japanese sail- 
 ing vessels ofif Kamchatka, collecting the fish 
 and the Japanese fishermen at the close of the 
 season, in order to take them home either to 
 Yezo or Nigata. Though no European had 
 ever been known to travel in one of these ves- 
 sels, it was thought that, if I chose to rough it 
 in that way, the Governor might make arrange- 
 ments with one of them for me, when, as under 
 existing treaty they were bound to do, they 
 called en route at KorsakofTsk to make a report 
 of their cargo. 
 
 I had not then learned nor would it have 
 mattered much, I suppose, if I had that in ad- 
 dition to the other dangers for saiHng vessels 
 in this region, the typhoons, which at a certain 
 season of the year sweep the eastern coast of 
 Japan, have an awkward way of sometimes 
 ignoring the limits assigned them on the charts, 
 and continuing in their destructive course right 
 up into the Gulf of Tartary and the Okhotsk 
 363 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 Sea. Further, I was quite ignorant of the fact 
 that the typhoon season was just then approach- 
 ing its cHmax. 
 
 The expected Japanese brig, Kaoon Mara, 
 at last arrived in the bay off Korsakoffsk, having 
 on board Matsui Kaze Sau (whose name ren- 
 dered into EngHsh means The Song of the Wind 
 through Pine Trees), Gobo Sau (Five Islands), 
 who was the captain, and, what I appreciated 
 more than all perhaps, an interpreter named 
 Wakasumi Sau, who, though employed for his 
 knowledge of Russian, spoke also a little 
 English. 
 
 Matsui Sau agreed with the greatest pleas- 
 ure to take me to Hakodate on the Kaoon Mara, 
 and after a round of festivities in my honour 
 by my generous Russian friends, the Governor 
 and his staff took me aboard in the launch 
 about'^ten o'clock the next night, that I might 
 be ready for the proposed start at daybreak. 
 
 As they steamed back, the torches on the 
 Kaoon Mara revealed, on the one hand, the 
 waving of handkerchiefs of my receding friends, 
 and on the other the forms of nearly a hundred 
 of my fellow-passengers swarming over the little 
 deck, all Japanese fishermen, quite naked except 
 for their loin-cloths. The contrast to the fes- 
 tivities and friends I had just left was strange, 
 striking, and weird, the scene being strongly 
 364 
 
From Sakhalin to Yezo 
 
 suggestive of the deck of an African slave 
 ship. 
 
 The little deck cabin, at the door of which 
 I was requested to leave my shoes, was, in true 
 Japanese fashion, covered with matting spot- 
 lessly clean. Excepting the little hibachi, or 
 stove, it was entirely without furniture, and quite 
 free from the ordinary ship odour. Here Matsui 
 and his friends, in their simple way, received 
 me as courteously as if I had been a foreign 
 potentate. After the usual tea drinking in my 
 honour, and a good deal of bowing all around, 
 Matsui kindly lent me a new Japanese kimono, 
 or robe, for my use while on board, and in the 
 morning I woke up a Japanese. The deck pas- 
 sengers, the savages of the previous night, were 
 all fishermen from Yezo, which is to Japan 
 what Scotland is to England. They were about 
 twice the size of the more southern Japanese, 
 magnificently formed, hardy, brave, thoroughly 
 independent, and as courteous as princes. Their 
 polar fishing season was over, and as they were 
 on their way home for the winter they were in 
 the best of spirits and afforded me a constant 
 source of interest. As many of these men had 
 hardly seen a European before, I was equally a 
 curiosity to them, and if it is not presumptuous 
 I think I may say that all round I was treated 
 as a sort of royal pet on the ship. As for Mat- 
 365 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 sui, rich merchant though he was, he insisted on 
 my having all my meals apart, as if I were a 
 Daimio, and he himself, as his particular right, 
 prepared and served me with almost everything 
 late. 
 
 Soon after starting the wind became so calm 
 that we were flapping and tacking about at a 
 rate of from nothing and less to about two or 
 three knots an hour for two or three days, when 
 we came within sight of a nearly submerged 
 reef, the black, jagged peaks of which jutted 
 here and there above the water along a line 
 about a mile from shore, and which I was 
 told extended parallel to the coast for about 
 sixty miles. The appearance of this reef led me 
 to remark to Wakasumi, the interpreter, " What 
 an ugly place this would be for a sailing ship 
 in a storm! '* Indeed, I was so impressed by it 
 that I went so far as to urge the captain to keep 
 farther out to sea and give it a wider birth. 
 
 Within two or three hours after this remark, 
 there was a sudden change in the weather. A 
 heavy blow came on from the southeast, which, 
 in view of the coast formation to leeward, was 
 exactly in the most dangerous direction. After 
 dark it increased to a gale. Repeated efforts 
 were made to wear ship, but she would not lay 
 her course. As'the ship fell back into the trough 
 of the sea over and over again, the rolling was 
 
 366 
 
From Sakhalin to Yezo 
 
 most violent. Everything movable, both on 
 deck and in the cabin, shared the motion, and 
 when to this was added the general flooding as 
 an accompaniment, I took refuge in my top 
 berth, being able to keep my place in it only by 
 wedging myself on all sides with all my might 
 with head, feet, and elbows. Between ten and 
 twelve the storm developed into a hurricane. 
 Every now and then my good friend Matsui 
 would make his appearance, urge me not to 
 snore, and smilingly say, " Ygroshi, yoroshi " 
 (all right), just to give me encouragement. I 
 didn't believe a word he said, but felt there was 
 no good in making myself uselessly uncomfort- 
 able about it. If Lgot out of the berth, I should 
 be up to my knees in water, and as casks, boxes, 
 and all the deck cargo were playing at nine-pins 
 in the darkness, the chances were I should get 
 my legs broken for my pains. I had seen noth- 
 ing of the interpreter after the beginning of the 
 storm, and as I was then almost wholly ignorant 
 of Japanese, there was not a soul with whom I 
 was able to exchange a sentence. Added to the 
 roar of the tempest, the cackling, shrieking, and 
 yelling of the frightened Japanese sailors was 
 simply fiendish. Somewhere about four o'clock 
 there was a new sound, and a sudden change in 
 the ship's motion, which, as I surmised, signi- 
 fied that the rudder and steering gear had be- 
 367 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 come broken and useless. A heavy sea now 
 deluged me in my berth and threatened to 
 sweep the after-cabin, in which I was, clean 
 away. The faithful Matsui appeared again, 
 but not as before with his cheerful '' Yoroshi." 
 This time he himself was stripped of everything 
 but his loin-cloth, in which was a small bundle 
 of what I supposed to be money. Not a word 
 did he utter this time, but with a sad expres- 
 sion he vigorously gesticulated for me to jump 
 from my berth, to strip, and follow him. There 
 was no mistaking what this meant. 
 
 I can hardly attempt to describe the sight 
 which presented itself on deck. To portray its 
 awful magnificence and grandeur, words would 
 be almost useless. We were in the midst of a 
 vast sea of seething liquid fire, which broke over 
 us in huge waves and clouds of sparks, while 
 by the cold, bluish spectral light of the luminous 
 spray, each drop of which was a spark, every- 
 thing and everybody from end to end of the 
 deck was distinctly though dimly visible. 
 
 Holding on with all my might, I watched my 
 chances, and between seas crept along the deck 
 under cover of the weather bulwarks to near 
 the deserted wheel, where I lashed myself to a 
 stanchion, and crouched under the bulwarks at 
 the port quarter. Here, between the cabin and 
 the broken wheel, I found most of the men, 
 
 368 
 
From Sakhalin to Yezo 
 
 who, with a turn of a rope round each in suc- 
 cession, formed lines across the quarter-deck, 
 the end of each rope being belayed to a 
 stanchion. 
 
 As each particularly huge and blazing wave 
 approached, the man at the weather end of the 
 rope gave the alarm, whereupon the whole row, 
 with a yell, took a firmer grip, and bent their 
 backs to receive it. In the intervals not a word 
 was uttered by any man. The way in which the 
 cackling and shrieking of these men in the 
 presence of mere danger became changed to 
 self-containment, resignation, and silence in the 
 presence of what they now regarded as certain 
 death, struck me at the time, and impresses me 
 now, as subHme. 
 
 So vividly was I impressed with the awful 
 magnificence of the scene, that, in order to take 
 in all I could of it before quitting this world for- 
 ever, I hauled myself up as high as I could, 
 partly loosening my hold so as to get a larger 
 and deeper view of the fiery gulf which yawned 
 beside us as the ship rose upon the crest of a 
 prodigious wave. I said to myself, " This is a 
 sight no man can see and live. In a minute I 
 shall be dead. I must make the most of this last 
 and magnificent opportunity, even at the cost 
 of dying thirty seconds sooner for it." 
 
 Whether or not it may seem strange to 
 
 -6 369 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 others I cannot tell, but I remember well that 
 while crouching naked and half dead from cold 
 under the lee of the bulwark, I recalled how, in 
 reading of shipwrecks, the part which had 
 always impressed my imagination the most, was 
 the critical moment when the ship struck bot- 
 tom. I speculated on the prospects of our doing 
 the same if we kept afloat a little longer, and 
 wondered whether the sensation would corre- 
 spond to the description. I could not forget the 
 reef I have mentioned, and knowing that, with 
 the gale blowing in that direction, we were prob- 
 ably drifting towards it, I kept watch that way 
 with intense apprehension. Here I observed 
 that, in addition to the violent boiling commo- 
 tion in all directions, our small horizon was 
 bounded by a more fixed and unbroken wall of 
 liquid fire. This, I felt confident, must be the 
 dreaded reef and must mean our instant de- 
 struction. 
 
 In a few minutes there was a bump, a crash, 
 and a recoil which caused me to lose my footing 
 entirely, but not my hold. This was repeated 
 three times. The vessel, though it now rolled 
 less, shipped seas heavier, if possible, than be- 
 fore. There had not been a gleam of hope for 
 hours, but if I had indulged in the faintest glim- 
 mer now, I should have taken it as a sure sign 
 that I was losing my senses. At this moment 
 37Q 
 
From Sakhalin to Yezo 
 
 the faithful Matsui was beside me, and seeing 
 that I was almost insensible with cold, helped me 
 on with a mackintosh which I had discarded, and 
 brought me a circular life-buoy, the only one on 
 the ship. This I passed over one shoulder and 
 under the other, succeeding with his help in get- 
 ting it lashed tightly in that position. 
 
 At the risk of incurring ridicule, I venture 
 to state here a little bit of experience which I 
 feel it would be cowardly to omit. I noticed 
 that poor Matsui, though perfectly cool, was 
 rubbing his hands together, as Japanese Bud- 
 dhists do when at prayer. I felt inclined to pray 
 myself, but special answers to special prayer, 
 particularly in cases where the answer wished 
 for was to be a discrimination in favour of the 
 supplicant for some material bestowment, had 
 long ceased to be conspicuous in my religious 
 beliefs. To pray now, therefore, I thought 
 would be cowardly, and in view of the utter help- 
 lessness of the situation, I felt it would be hardly 
 fair that I would therefore rather just face the 
 situation consistently. After a while, however, I 
 came to offering a prayer, a provisional prayer: 
 it was perhaps rather a committal of my soul to 
 God with an appendix, to the efifect that if pos- 
 sibly expedient, we might, or rather perhaps I 
 should say that I might, in some way survive 
 the present peril. Within two minutes after 
 371 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 this I saw Captain Goto rush along the deck be- 
 tween the seas. With heroic effort he succeed- 
 ed in climbing the foremast, and managed to 
 loosen and shake out the topsail. 
 
 As we were lifted up by a huge wave, the 
 wind, catching this sail, made the ship's head 
 pay right round so as to reverse her direction 
 exactly, and, as the wave passed on, we found 
 ourselves carried by it over the reef, her bow 
 heading towards what we thought must be a 
 more or less distant shore. The violence of 
 this movement sprung the mizzen-mast, which 
 went overboard with a crash. By the help 
 of this fore-topsail we were now plainly for- 
 ging slowly along what was no longer a rocky 
 but a sandy bottom. In this fact came the 
 first gleam of possible hope. Whatever hap- 
 pened now, I felt that my life-buoy might keep 
 me afloat for at least a little while. Directly 
 afterward I saw to the leeward my little Japanese 
 cabin-boy striking out bravely in the trough of 
 the sea. Amid the foam of the waters as they 
 dashed about him his entire form shimmered 
 with light like polished silver, and even the ex- 
 pression of his face was clearly visible. 
 
 His position was not much worse than our 
 
 own, and was what must within a few minutes 
 
 be the lot of all of us. Yet, after the immense 
 
 dif^culty with which I had just got my life-buoy 
 
 372 
 
From Sakhalin to Yezo 
 
 firmly lashed to me, it was only after a sharp 
 mental struggle that I insisted on its being 
 wrenched off again and thrown to the poor little 
 fellow. To everybody's amazement he succeed- 
 ed in seizing it, and was actually hauled aboard 
 again. With yells of applause several of the men 
 instantly set to work forcing the buoy over my 
 head again, and lashing it to me more firmly 
 than before. 
 
 Matsui, who succeeded in keeping near me, 
 now pointed upward to call my attention to 
 what appeared to be an overhanging cloud of a 
 definite outline, and shouted, " Yama, Yama." 
 It was a mountain-top plainly revealed through 
 the clouds in the early dawn. 
 
 But with tons of water pouring over me 
 every few minutes, the pounding, the struggle, 
 the cold of it, which had continued hour after 
 hour, I was so benumbed and exhausted as to 
 be almost apathetic, except to the irony of being 
 drow^ned in sight of land. 
 
 The next thing I recall was a seeming con- 
 sciousness of being dead, of having been dead 
 for a long time, and of being surprised how well 
 my dead body floated. Excepting my life-buoy, 
 I knew that there was nothing between me and 
 the bottom of the ocean, but my attention and 
 my whole thoughts were now fixed on the over- 
 topping wave next approaching, speculating, 
 373 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 wondering, then almost admiring the way in 
 which, instead of crushing me, it picked me up 
 and tossed me on its crest. I had for a moment 
 a gHmpse of the shore, thought I heard voices, 
 saw looming to my left the stern end of the 
 stranded hulk, and noted how nearly I came 
 being smashed against it. Once I passed be- 
 yond it and distinctly heard tremendous yelling 
 then I was far out at sea again. This was re- 
 peated again and again; then came more yelling 
 than ever I felt I was grappled. Then came 
 the greatest surprise of my life. I was not dead, 
 but really alive! I was conscious of lying flat 
 on a rock, and of excited men making violent 
 efforts to wake me from what seemed a con- 
 fused and troubled dream. 
 
 From the beginning of the voyage and 
 throughout that terrible experience, not only 
 Matsui Sau and Goto Sau, but everybody on 
 the ship, was so devoted, they seemed to think 
 the ship and everybody else on it had but one 
 intent, one object myself and my comfort. 
 This devotion was now nothing less than a 
 frenzy. I knew that their frantic efforts were 
 fast extinguishing the flickering spark they were 
 trying to revive, but I could make no sign. 
 
 " Death from Drowning. We regret to 
 announce that, while travelling, in the far East, 
 Dr. Benjamin Howard, the author of the Direct 
 
 374 
 
From Sakhalin to Yezo 
 
 Method of the Resuscitation of the Drowned, 
 died of his own specialty near the Sea of Tar- 
 tary." 
 
 This imaginary notice, the oddness of it, the 
 irony of it, the discovery, which nothing but 
 this experience could have given me, of the 
 danger of excessive frictions, I had insufficiently 
 pointed out, all this passing as if on a screen 
 before my mind, stirred in me slightly chagrin, 
 and slightly a sense of duty regarding this dis- 
 covery. By a supreme effort I opened my 
 eyes, and made my rescuers understand that I 
 must be covered up and left for a while quite 
 still. 
 
 Shifted gently to dry ground, covered with 
 leaves, a bonfire kept blazing beside me, I was 
 taking long breaths within an hour. I felt 
 dazed, amazed, but finally convinced that after 
 all I was really alive. 
 
 Like all semi-nude peoples, these Yezo men 
 had their personal vanities. One of these was in 
 the dressing of the hair. This was carefully 
 done in a top-knot such as is represented on 
 some old Japanese screens. The other was a 
 little ornamental sheath fastened to every waist 
 belt, many of which were of ivory beautifully 
 carved. This contained a little pipe, and, for- 
 tunately for us, a flint and steel for lighting it. 
 By means of the latter they quickly arranged tp 
 3?5 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 make the capital fire which they so carefully 
 kept going. 
 
 Some of the men made large, cleverly con- 
 structed leaf-huts of pine branches and kept 
 them warm with blazing fires. As the sea 
 calmed down, others of the men, partly floating 
 and partly swimming on loose timbers, succeed- 
 ed in getting from a part of the Kaoon Mara, 
 still sticking out of the water, enough provisions 
 to live on. What was of most importance, how- 
 ever, was the recovery of a partly smashed yawl 
 boat. 
 
 Our situation was this: Where we were cer- 
 tain starvation confronted us. Following the 
 Kaoon Mara, another and smaller vessel from 
 the Kamchatka waters for Nigata was to follow, 
 and should just about this time be passing our 
 latitude. As with Asiatics always, in the pres- 
 ence of an Anglo-Saxon, their eager discussions 
 as to our future always ended in '' What does 
 Howard Sau advise? " They all agreed with me 
 as to what was the only course. Working like 
 Titans, they succeeded in outrigging the 
 smashed boat with timbers into a large and solid 
 raft. On experiment it was found that it would 
 carry three persons. It was agreed that the mo- 
 ment the weather was favourable, Matsui Sau, 
 Goto Sau, and Howard Sau should man this lit- 
 tle raft, and with our mat-sail push right out 
 
From Sakhalin to Yezo 
 
 into the open sea, on the bare chance of sight- 
 ing and intercepting the Toyama Mara, the Httle 
 schooner which indeed might already have 
 passed us. 
 
 The second day after the raft was completed 
 was as fine as if it had been created expressly 
 for our enterprise. At earliest dawn everybody 
 was assembled on the beach, each trying to give 
 some finishing touch to the raft. 
 
 We were shoved off in silence, broken only 
 by here and there a " saiyonara," and at a beau- 
 tiful speed headed straight for the sun, just as it 
 was rising above the horizon. Throughout the 
 day sun, wind, weather, all was perfection, but 
 after nightfall the mists were so heavy that, in 
 spite of the full moon, they might have quite 
 obscured again and again any passing sail. The 
 dread of perhaps just missing our object, and 
 what that would mean to all of us, the intense 
 strain of the watching, the solitude, are not for 
 description, but for the imagination. 
 
 In the morning a tiny speck on the horizon, 
 growing in size and changing in colour, gradu- 
 ally approached us, and within a couple of hours 
 we were safely aboard the Toyama Mara, with 
 our raft in tow, and making direct for the re- 
 lief and rescue of the anxious survivors of the 
 Kaoon Mara. One of the first of those to come 
 aboard after we cast anchor was my little cabin- 
 377 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 boy, who prostrated himself completely before 
 me, and clung to my knees in his gratitude for 
 the life-preserver incident. 
 
 If on the Kaoon Mara I had been treated 
 as a prince, the survivors, as they came aboard 
 the Toyama Mara, treated me by comparison 
 almost as a king. Their gratitude and over- 
 crowding attentions were positively embarrass- 
 ing and inconvenient. 
 
 We lost no time in getting away from this 
 dangerous part of the coast, and, taking the 
 course between Cape Crillon and Nosyass, con- 
 tinued southwest till we came in sight of the 
 towering cone of the marvellous Kiskiri Island, 
 of whose beauty I have previously spoken. I 
 tried to induce Captain Amata Yoshitaro to land 
 me at Obdru, whence I might go overland to 
 Hakodate, but the wind, which was most of the 
 time S. E., was thought too unfavourable for 
 this. Ofi Capes Shatotau and Mota, we had 
 such nasty squalls that, to avoid being washed 
 overboard, all the men except those engaged in 
 working the ship had to take shelter in the 
 cabin, where we were like herrings packed in a 
 barrel. From Cape Ota, there was only just 
 wind enough to keep us in motion, but the cap- 
 tain was little concerned about it, because he 
 said that we should in any case soon be off 
 Nepia and Lukuyami, whence there was sure 
 
 378 
 
From Sakhalin to Yezo 
 
 to be a strong northeast current, which of itself 
 would carry us right up to Hakodate. As we 
 had passed these places, however, and were ap- 
 proaching Cape Shirakami, hoping to round it 
 and to enter Tsugaru Strait, we encountered a 
 furious gale, which towards midnight became a 
 regular hurricane. 
 
 Just outside the mouth of the strait is a vol- 
 canic island, which presents nothing but pre- 
 cipitous rocky clififs for six or seven miles. Its 
 name is Kajima or Keshuma. Except on its 
 western coast, not a blade of grass grows on it, 
 and it is the particular dread of all mariners 
 in this region. The schooner partly rounded 
 the cape, but would not lay her course. We 
 had gone too far to put the ship to the north- 
 ward by running before the wind; to remain as 
 we were meant that we should be driven in the 
 darkness to leeward, right on to the perpen- 
 dicular wall of rocks. One chance of escaping 
 this, and only one, remained; that was to try 
 to keep the ship away, pack on all canvas she 
 would carry, and, by going at the fullest 
 possible speed, try to drive past and clear 
 the cliffs before the schooner could strike on 
 them. 
 
 This is one of the most exciting and danger- 
 ous manoeuvres a navigator is ever called to at- 
 tempt, and is one that taxes all the skill and 
 379 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 nerve of the most intrepid mariner to the ut- 
 most. 
 
 Early in the evening, in view of its being the 
 height of the typhoon season, I had myself 
 urged the captain to steer to leeward of this 
 island and give it a clear berth until the weather 
 then threatening had improved, and he had 
 promised me he would do so. I learned that he 
 had afterward been overruled, however, by a 
 part-owner of the vessel who was on board of 
 her. When it was too late, the danger of our 
 situation was fully realized, the captain, owners, 
 everybody concerned got into a frightful panic, 
 and the vessel became a regular pandemonium. 
 For myself, I was in a state of helpless rage at 
 their stupidity and folly. In the fury of this 
 midnight storm, one sail after another was 
 ripped into ribbons, and the gafT came down 
 with a run, smashing through the roof of my 
 cabin. The topmast was now carried away, and, 
 judging from the terrific noise and fearful com- 
 motion that we were about to strike, I tried to 
 step out on deck, but found my way completely 
 blocked by wreckage. With the greatest diffi- 
 culty I managed to get about three feet from 
 the companion hatch, peered eagerly leeward, 
 and there saw that within twenty or thirty feet 
 of us were perpendicular rocks, the tops of 
 which were at that moment nearly overhanging 
 380 
 
From Sakhalin to Yezo 
 
 the deck. There was an awful suspense and 
 a dead silence during the few moments we 
 grazed swiftly past and cleared them. Then 
 followed a general and audible sigh of relief at 
 this narrow deliverance from hopeless destruc- 
 tion. 
 
 The schooner was leaking badly, but by the 
 aid of the pumps we managed to keep the water 
 under. With jury-mast and rapidly patched up 
 sail, by slow and tedious tacking, we at last suc- 
 ceeded, on the second night thereafter, in drop- 
 ping anchor ofif the fort at the entrance to the 
 harbour at Hakodate. Amid general manifes- 
 tations of relief and joy, we all squatted together 
 in the cabin to a supper of tea, rice, and raw 
 fish. This being over, good old Matsui, though 
 now only a passenger like myself in the Toya- 
 ma, and therefore without any authority on 
 board, brought out a small portable shrine, 
 lighted the little lamps on it, tinkled a little bell, 
 and from a small well-thumbed book proceeded 
 to conduct a short Buddhist service of prayer 
 and thanksgiving. Every man on board went 
 on his knees and earnestly and reverently joined. 
 Without any disparagement I think I may truly 
 say that, of all persons, heathen or Christian, 
 Matsui, all through these recent severe tests 
 of character, impressed me as being the most 
 Christ-like man I had ever known. Though he 
 
 381 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 did not know the Christ, undoubtedly the Christ 
 knew him. 
 
 No company will insure the vessels engaged 
 in this northern trade. In the sinking of the 
 Kaoon Mara, Matsui lost over ten thousand dol- 
 lars, nearly all he had in the world, yet from first 
 to last he was the same courteous, calm, self- 
 sacrificing; he was beloved by everybody. On 
 reaching Hakodate, we found that the storms 
 which had struck us had been the two most de- 
 structive typhoons that had swept the Japanese 
 coast for many years. In the first the Ertou- 
 groul, the admiral's ship of the Turkish navy, 
 the officers of which were fresh from an imperial 
 reception at Tokio, had gone down with nearly 
 four hundred souls. Two large steamers of the 
 Nippon Yusen Raisha had also shared a similar 
 fate. The second typhoon was scarcely less dis- 
 astrous, and several vessels, two of which we 
 had sighted on the west of Yezo, were reported 
 as lost. To this day, in certain weather changes, 
 I have mementoes of this frightful voyage in the 
 twitching of three ribs, the breaking of which 
 was but a small part of my own personal injuries 
 from it. 
 
 Although this account of it may, I fear, 
 seem rather tedious, I have tried to confine my- 
 self to details having other than a personal inter- 
 est. It will, I think, corroborate what I had 
 382 
 
From Sakhalin to Yezo 
 
 previously stated about the natural difficulties 
 of escape from Sakhalin; it will also bring into 
 view some of the peculiarities of the hardy Yezo 
 men, from whom alone come the famous wres- 
 tlers, so distinguished and honoured throughout 
 the Japanese Empire, and who form such a 
 magnificent reserve for the Japanese navy. 
 
 The wonderful phosphorescence in the first 
 storm, to which I had once seen a faint approxi- 
 mation in the West Indian waters, I had thought 
 to be partly due to the medusa or jelly-fish, 
 which I have previously mentioned as so abun- 
 dant in La Perouse Straits. I felt that even a 
 moderate description of the vividness of this 
 phosphorescence on my own authority alone 
 could hardly fail of seeming an exaggeration to 
 some readers, so I insert the following account 
 from Lord George Campbell's Log-letters from 
 the Challenger, which will be found to be very 
 similar to my own experience as I have de- 
 scribed it: 
 
 " On Phosphorescence of the Sea 
 
 " On the night of the 14th the sea was most 
 gloriously phosphorescent to a degree un- 
 equalled in our experience. A fresh breeze was 
 blowing and every wave and wavelet as far as 
 one could see from the ship on all sides to the 
 distant horizon flashed brightly as they broke, 
 
 383 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 while above the horizon hung a faint but visible 
 white light. Astern of the ship deep down 
 where the keel cut the water glowed a broad 
 band of blue emerald-green light, from which 
 came streaming up or floated on the surface 
 myriads of yellow sparks which glistened and 
 sparkled against the brilliant cloud-light below 
 until both mingled and died out astern far away 
 in our wake. Ahead of the ship where the old 
 blufif bows of the Challenger went ploughing and 
 churning through the sea, there was light enough to 
 read the smallest print with ease. It was as if 
 the Milky Way as seen through a telescope scat- 
 tered in millions like ghttering dust, had dropped 
 down on the ocean and we were sailing through 
 it. . . . This bright cloud-light below the sur- 
 face we thought was caused by fishes' spawn, 
 through a belt of which we passed for two or 
 three days; and the sparks by the larvae of crabs, 
 with both of which the towing net was full." * 
 
 Elsewhere in his Log-letters Lord George 
 Campbell says: 
 
 " At page 39 I have logged an unusually 
 brilliant display of phosphorescence, and on that 
 peg let me hang some general remarks on the 
 
 * A mistake discovered afterward. As we unscientific 
 people have all seen phosphorescence in the sea, and have 
 all doubtless wondered what produced it, I have said a word 
 or two on this subject in the last chapter. 
 
 384 
 
From Sakhalin to Yezo 
 
 subject as observed on the Challenger. Phos- 
 phorescent light is, as you know, emitted by 
 many ocean-living organisms. Some larval 
 Crustacea give out a light from their eyes, 
 some copepods intermittently from between 
 the segments of their bodies; pyrosoma give 
 out a steady lambent glow; salpae also, and 
 medusa, all zoophytes which live at the bottom 
 are brilliantly illuminated; and, as we have seen, 
 fish of several kinds are dotted along their 
 bodies with phosphorescent organs; while a lit- 
 tle infusorian has been credited with so great a 
 light-giving power as to have won the name of 
 noctiluca. And that brings us to a Challenger 
 discovery. What was it that, on the night I have 
 mentioned, was the cause of that extraordinary 
 phenomenon the Milky Way the glittering dust 
 scattered in such profusion in the sea as to literally 
 illuminate the dark night air? The tow net was 
 full of little round organisms which at first 
 glance were taken to be fishes' eggs or perhaps 
 noctiluca. But further study showed them to be 
 diatoms undescribed and hitherto quite un- 
 known to science, and so we christened them 
 ' pyrocistis pseudonoctiluca,' than which no ocean 
 living organism, whether plant or animal, is so 
 abundant in the warm waters of the sea. Its 
 phosphorescent light is emitted from a nu- 
 cleus. 
 
 ^' 385 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 *' Noctiluca, on the other hand, is not found 
 in the open ocean excepting where the sea-water 
 is from river-water permeation brackish. If 
 therefore when saiUng over the ocean, particu- 
 larly in the tropics, the phosphorescence appears 
 diffused such as I have described, be sure that 
 the bright cloud-light is caused by the diatoms 
 ' pyrocistis,' or ' bags of fire.' And if when 
 pulling over the waters of some harbour or 
 along the shore in whatever part of the world 
 the oars drip showers of stars and the rippling 
 wavelets diverging wide from the bows reveal 
 their crests in running lines of mellowest light 
 as though a reflected moonbeam sleeping had 
 been disturbed, be sure in this case that nocti- 
 luca infusorians chiefly are the cause, while in 
 either case the larger glittering sparkles are 
 caused by larval crustaceans flashing fire from 
 wrathful eyes, or from copepods from between 
 the joints of their bodies. It is only when dis- 
 turbed that many of these organisms give forth 
 their light-giving property. You may be sail- 
 ing along seeing little phosphorescence, the 
 crest of a wave breaking, a medusa floating by, 
 the sparkles caused by the friction of the ship; 
 but should a dolphin, shark, or porpoise shoot 
 swimming around you, lo! as water-fowl are 
 sheathed in water air-bubbles so are the fish 
 sheathed in phosphorescent gold, cutting 
 386 
 
From Sakhalin to Yezo 
 
 through the black water like lightning streaks; 
 and thus it was on the night mentioned. The 
 day had been calm, and up to the surface came 
 floating and swimming all things that have life, 
 and among these the diatoms, which happened 
 to be in unusual abundance. Then fell the 
 night, and with it rose the breeze disturbing 
 as does your hand in a glass jar the excitable 
 organisms, and hence the wondrous display " 
 (page 501). 
 
 Speaking of some of these organisms in the 
 deep sea, Professor Lars says (page 499): 
 
 " The light of day does not penetrate to 
 these great depths, but as a compensation there 
 is produced by the animals themselves a splen- 
 did illumination of the whole, inasmuch as all 
 are strongly phosphorescent or have the power 
 to produce from their bodies an intense light 
 by turns bluish, greenish, and reddish. . . . The 
 luminous shark thus attracts its prey on the 
 same principle as torches are employed in night 
 fishing." 
 
 Though only of personal interest, I venture 
 to add one word respecting the most critical mo- 
 ment in the wreck of the Kaoon Mara. 
 
 Before leaving Hakodate, I met at Matsui's 
 house Captain Goto Sau, the captain of the lost 
 vessel. Referring to his daring attempt, which 
 
 387 
 
Prisoners of Russia 
 
 I have described, to get the top-sail unfurled, 
 and what it had to do with shifting the vessel 
 from the reef on which we were hopelessly 
 impaled, he said that, on looking back, his ac- 
 tion was as surprising to himself as it could be 
 to anybody else. The position was one in which 
 he had no experience, either of his own or of 
 others to guide him, but the idea suddenly 
 flashed into his mind, and thinking it was the 
 last thing he should ever do in this world, he 
 made the dash I witnessed, which to his own sur- 
 prise turned out such a success. " You see," he 
 remarked, " I knew it would be of no use to 
 order any sailor to attempt to do it, so I took 
 the risk myself, and I am thankful I did, because 
 but for just that one thing, I am quite sure that 
 within a few minutes every soul of us would 
 have been lost." 
 
 Turning to dear good old Matsui, I said, 
 " Matsui Sau, I saw you pray to your God just 
 before Goto Sau lowered the top-sail." 
 
 " And you," he said, " didn't you pray to 
 your God, too? " 
 
 " Well, yes I did." 
 
 " Well," said he, " all same thing." Raising 
 his hands with the tips of his two forefingers 
 joined together, he said, " Your prayer, my 
 prayer come together so; I Buddha, you Christ; 
 different name but all same, all one up top." 
 388 
 
From Sakhalin to Yezo 
 
 Who will venture to say good old Mat- 
 sui was not right? and that the suggestion 
 flashed into the mind of Captain Goto had no 
 relation to the united prayers that went up for 
 our deliverance? I know that the experience 
 of one man cannot serve for another, but if any 
 man having had the same experience as mine, 
 should still ridicule or doubt the possibility of 
 special divine intervention in answer to united 
 petition, neither his science nor his philosophy 
 would prevent me from regarding him as an 
 unfortunate and an unenviable man. 
 
 (1) 
 
 THE END 
 
 389 
 
By PROFESSOR G. MASPERO. 
 
 The Greatest and Most Scholarly Work on the 
 History of the Ancient World, 
 
 The Passing of the Empires. 
 
 8so B. C. to 330 B. C. 
 
 Edited by the Rev. Professor A. H. Sayce. Translated by 
 M. L. McClure. With Maps and numerous Illustrations, 
 including three Colored Plates. 4to. Cloth, $7.^0. 
 
 ** With this magnificent volume Professor Maspero completes his great task, 
 which has extended over nearly seven years, of writing a history of the Oriental 
 world from the earliest times down to the death of Darius. The work has been 
 great, as the progress of Oriental research has been so rapid, and discoveries so 
 numerous, that to attain any finality seemed impossible ; but the author has 
 neglected nothing, and indeed the footnotes to these volumes show an almost 
 herculean labor of research among authorities in every land and every tongue, 
 and add immensely to the value of the work." Chronicle (London). 
 
 The Struggle of the Nations. 
 
 (^Egypty Syria, and Assyria^. 
 Edited by the Rev. Professor A. H. Sayce. Translated by 
 M. L. McClure. With Maps and over 400 Illustrations, 
 including three Colored Plates, 4to. Cloth, $7.50. 
 
 " A work of comprehensive scope and sound basis, truthful, in the main 
 accurate, and in a high degree attractive. Its abundant maps and illustrations 
 four hundred and more increase its fitness for the intelligent public for whom 
 it is designed. Some of them have exceptional value, even for those already 
 well informed. Notwithstanding the abundant footnotes and citations of 
 authorities, the aim of the work is essentially popular." The Nation. 
 
 The Dawn of Civilization. 
 
 {Egypt and Chaldc^d). 
 Third and enlarged edition. Edited by the Rev. Professor A. H. 
 Sayce. Translated by M. L. McClure. With Map and over 470 
 Illustrations, including three Colored Plates. 4to. Cloth, ;^7. 50. 
 " You no sooner open it at random than you discover that every paragraph 
 is alluring and instructive. You may npt hope to read it through, even in a 
 dozen sittings, but you can not give a glance at any one of its pages without 
 having your attention specially challenged." Netu Tork Herald. 
 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. 
 
APPLETONS' WORLD SERIES, 
 
 A New Geographical Library. 
 
 Edited by H. J. Mackinder, M. A., Student of Christ Church, Reader in 
 Geography in the University of Oxford, Principal of Reading College. Each, 
 8vo. Cloth. 
 
 The series will consist of twelve volumes, each being an essay descriptive 
 of a great natural region, its marked physical features, and the life of the 
 people. Together, the volumes will give a complete account of the world, 
 more especially as the field of human activity. 
 
 NO W READ Y. 
 
 Britain and the British Seas. By the Editor. With numerous 
 Maps and Diagrams. $2.00 net ; postage, 19 cents additional. 
 
 The Nearer East. By D. G. Hogarth, M. A., Fellow of Mag- 
 dalen College, Oxford ; Director of the British School at Athens ; 
 Author of "A Wandering Scholar in the Levant." $2.00 net; 
 postage, 17 cents additional. 
 
 IN PREPARATION. 
 CENTRAL EUROPE. By Dr. Joseph Partsch, Professor of Geography 
 
 in the University of Breslau. 
 INDIA. By Sir T. Hungerford Holdich, K. C. I. E., C. B-., R. E., 
 
 Superintendent of Indian Frontier Surveys ; author of numerous papers 
 
 on Military Surveying and Geographical subjects. 
 SCANDINAVIA AND THE ARCTIC OCEAN. By Sir Clemens R. 
 
 Markham, K. C. B., F. R. S., President of the Royal Geographical 
 
 Society. 
 THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. By Prince Kropotkin, author of the articles 
 
 *' Russia" and " Siberia" in the Encyclopadta Britannica. 
 AFRICA. By J. Scott Keltie, Secretary of the Royal Geographical 
 
 Society; Editor of The Statesman's Year-Book ; Author of "The 
 
 Partition of Africa." 
 THE FARTHER EAST. By Archibald Little. 
 WESTERN EUROPE AND THE MEDITERRANEAN. By Elisek 
 
 Reclus, author of the " Nouvelle Giographie Universelle." 
 AUSTRALASIA AND ANTARCTICA. By Dr. H. O. Forbes, Curator 
 
 of the Liverpool Museum, late Curator of the Christ Church Museum, N. 
 
 Z. ; Authorof " A Naturalist's Wanderings in the Eastern Archipelago." 
 NORTH AMERICA. By Prof. Israel Cook Russell, M.S., C. E., 
 
 LL. D., Professor of Geology in the University of Michigan ; author of 
 
 numerous works on geological and physiographical subjects. 
 SOUTH AMERICA. By John Casper Branner, Ph. D., LL. D., 
 
 Professor of Geology, and sometime Vice-President Leland Stanford 
 
 Junior University ; author of many publications on Brazil, Geology, 
 
 and Physical Geography. 
 
 Maps by J. G. Bartholomew. 
 
 D. APPLE TON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. 
 
THE GREAT PEOPLES SERIES 
 
 Edited by Dr. YORK POWELL, 
 
 Regius Professor of Modern History in the University of Oxford. 
 
 Each Umo. Qoth, $K50 net; postage^ H cents additional* 
 
 The aim of this series is to give in well-printed, clearly written, and read- 
 a' le volumes a view of the process by which the leading peoples of the world 
 have become great and earned their title to greatness, to describe the share 
 each has contributed to the common stock of civilization. It is not so much 
 a set of political or military or even social histories, as a sequence of readable 
 studies on the tendencies and potencies of the chief peoples of the world, 
 that this series will strive to present. 
 
 NOW READY: 
 
 THE SPANISH PEOPLE. 
 
 By Dr. Martin A. S. Hume. 
 
 " The reader quickly perceives that the riches promised by Dr. Powell 
 are amply found, at least in this first volume. The history is written with a 
 new object and from a new standpoint ; there is not a dull page in it. 
 Mr. Hume writes with all the advantages of the modem historical specialist, 
 and his picture of the development of the Spaniard is an important history 
 of a people whose picturesque career is one of unfailing interest." Boston 
 Daily Advertiser. 
 
 THE FRENCH PEOPLE. 
 
 By Arthur Hassall, M. A., Student of Christ Church, 
 Oxford ; Author of " The Balance of Power," etc. 
 
 In accordance with the general plan of the series, this important work 
 presents the evolution of a people. The method is modern, and although 
 the sources, development, and transitions of a great race are fully indicated 
 in a comparatively small compass, the author's aims and results differ widely 
 from the set record of political, dynastic, and military facts which are chron- 
 icled in the dry language of the usual hand-book. The part that France has 
 played in the world's history has been frequently so picturesque and dra- 
 matic, as well as great, that a vital analysis of her history like this possesses 
 a profound interest. The author is one of the ablest of the rising English 
 historians and a lecturer at Christ Church, Oxford. 
 
 IN PREPARATION: 
 
 THE RUSSIAN PEOPLE. 
 
 By J. Fitzmaurice-Kelly. 
 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. 
 
A STANDARD REFERENCE WORK. 
 
 Appletons' Universal Cyclopaedia and 
 Atlas. 
 
 This is the only Cyclopgedia made in this country by a thoroughly 
 organized body of scholars, writers, and litterateurs, each selected for 
 his special fitness and his acquaintance with the subjects assigned to 
 him. It treats more than 70,000 subjects, including thirty thousand 
 signed articles, and it affords the latest authentic information on every 
 topic treated. 
 
 It is the only cyclopaedia that gives the derivation, meaning, and 
 pronunciation of foreign names, thus combining the essential features 
 of a lexicon with the characteristics of a cyclopaedia of general 
 knowledge. 
 
 CONTROVERTED SUBJECTS. This feature is entirely 
 new. Editors of the older cyclopaedias held that controverted subjects 
 should not be admitted in a work of this kind. The Universal Cyclo- 
 paedia and Atlas presents the great questions of the day, pro and con, 
 treated by acknowledged exponents of each view. 
 
 ARRANGED ANALYTICALLY. This is a time-saver; it 
 enables children to use the work in their school studies, and it makes 
 the contents more convenient for ready reference. In fact, it can be 
 used as easily as a City Directory. 
 
 THE ATLAS FEATURE. This work contains a map of 
 each of the continents, of every important country, and of each State 
 and Territory in the United States ; also colored maps and plans of 
 the principal cities of the world, showing location of railroad depots, 
 hotels, theaters, public buildings, churches, colleges, hospitals, etc. 
 
 The information in a reference work must be fresh, concise, simple, 
 accurate, complete, and immediately accessible. Every one of these 
 requirements is met by the Universal Cyclopaedia and Atlas. 
 
 This explains why libraries, colleges, boards of education, and 
 thousands of individuals have bought this crowning success of educa- 
 tional enterprise. 
 
 12 extra royal octavo volumes. Prospectus, with pam- 
 phlet of Specimen Pages, etc., mailed free on request. 
 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. 
 
THE CONQSE KNOWLEDGE LIBRARY 
 
 Each, small 8vo, half leather, $2,00* 
 
 The History of the World, 
 
 From the Earliest Historical Time to the Year 1898. By 
 Edgar Sanderson, M. A., author of "A History of the British 
 Empire/* etc. 
 
 The Historical Reference-Book. 
 
 Comprising a Chronological Table of Universal History, a 
 Chronological Dictionary of Universal History, and a Biograph- 
 ical Dictionary. With Geographical Notes. For the use of 
 Students, Teachers, and Readers. By Louis Heilprin. Fifth 
 edition, revised to 1898. 
 
 Natural History. 
 
 By R. Lydekker, B. A.; W. F. Kirby, F. L. S.; B. B. Wood- 
 ward, F. L. S. ; R. Kirkpatrick ; R. I. Pocock j R. Bowdler 
 Sharpe, LL. D.; W. Garstang, M. A.; F. A. Bather, M. A., 
 and H. M. Bernard, M. A. Nearly 800 pages, and 500 
 Illustrations drawn especially for this work. 
 
 Astronomy. 
 
 Fully illustrated. By Agnes M. Clerke, A. Fowler, F.R.A.S., 
 Demonstrator of Astronomical Physics of the Royal College of 
 Science, and J. Ellard Gore, F. R. A. S. 
 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. 
 
DR. EGGLESTON'S GREAT HISTORY^ 
 
 The Transit of Civilization 
 
 From England to America in the Seventeenth Century. By 
 Edward Eggleston. Uniform with **The Beginner? of a 
 Nation.'* Small 8vo, gilt top, uncut, cloth, ^1.50. 
 
 All who have read ** The Beginners of a Nation" will wel- 
 come this new volume by Mr. Eggleston. Though it is an 
 independent work, it is also the second in the series upon which 
 the author has long been engaged. Its aim is to reveal to the reader 
 the mind of the seventeenth century man to show where he 
 stood in the intellectual development of the race ; what he knew 
 of science, and how his character was determined by his limi- 
 tations ; his bondage to tradition, his credulity, and the unreality 
 of the world in which he lived, with its witches, its omnipresent 
 devil, its signaturism in plants and animals to guide medical 
 practice, its belief in the virtue of sympathetic powder, weapon 
 ointment, and the fabulous bezoar stone. The standards of con- 
 duct of the age are shown, the educational aims and the evolu- 
 tion of a school system unthought of then. 
 
 The scope of the work may best be explained by the titles 
 of the chapters, which are : 
 
 1. Medical Outfit of the Early Colonists. 
 
 2. Medical Notions at the Period of Settlement. 
 
 3. Folk Speech and Mother English. 
 
 4. Weights and Measures of Conduct. 
 
 5. The Tradition of Education. 
 
 6. Landholding in the Early Colonies. 
 
 This is no ordinary historical work, but a startling view of 
 life before science. No such account has ever been given of the 
 colonists, and no such view exists of England in the seventeenth 
 century. It may be read in entire independence of any other 
 volume of the series. 
 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. 
 
GREAT COMMANDERS. 
 
 Edited by General JAMES GRANT WILSON. 
 
 This series forms one of the most notable collections of books that ha.s 
 been published for many years. The success it has met with since the first 
 volume was issued, and the widespread attention it has attracted, indicate 
 that it has satisfactorily fulfilled its purpose, viz., to provide in a popular 
 form and moderate compass the records of the lives of men who have been 
 conspicuously eminent in the gjeat conflicts that established American in- 
 dependence and maintained our national integrity and unity. Each biog- 
 raphy has been written by an author especially well qualified for the task, 
 and the result is not only a series of fascinating stories of the lives and deeds 
 of great men, but a rich mine of valuable information for the student of 
 American history and biography. 
 
 Each, tlmOf cloth, :ih top, $J50 net 
 
 PostagCt n cents additional. 
 
 NOW READY. 
 
 Admiral Farragut - - - - By Captain A. T. Mahan, U. S. N. 
 
 General Taylor By General O. O. Howard, U. S. A. 
 
 General Jackson By James Parton. 
 
 General Greene By General Francis V. Greene. 
 
 General J. E. Johnston - - By Robert M. Hughes, of Virginia. 
 
 General Thomas By Henry Coppee, LL. D. 
 
 General Scott By General Marcus J. Wright. 
 
 General Washington - - - By General Bradley T. Johnson. 
 
 General Lee By General Fitzhugh Lee. 
 
 General Hancock By General Francis A. Walker. 
 
 General Sheridan By General Henry E. Davies. 
 
 General Grant By General James Grant Wilson. 
 
 General Sherman ----- By General Manning F. Force. 
 Commodore Patil Jones - - - - By Cyrus Townsend Brady. 
 
 General Meade By Isaac R. Pennypacker. 
 
 General McCleUan By General Peter S. Michie. 
 
 General Forrest By Captain J. Harvey Mathes. 
 
 IN PREPARATION. 
 
 Admiral Porter By James R. Souey, late Ass't Sec'y U. S. Navy. 
 
 General Schofield An Autobiography. 
 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK, 
 
TWO STANDARD BOOKS* 
 
 Actual Africa; or, The Coming Continent. 
 
 A Tour of Exploration. By Frank Vincent. With Map and 
 104 full-page Illustrations. 8vo. Cloth, ^5.00. 
 
 "It is really a wonderful book wonderful, I mean, in the sense that it is 
 the work of one man, for the sum of the information that you have given the 
 public is something prodigious. From what you have said about the parts of 
 Africa with which I am familiar, I think there must be very few errors, con- 
 sidering the multitude of statements, within this African cyclopedia. It is not 
 only a book of reference upon almost any subject connected with Africa, but 
 admirably most admirably illustrated. The pictures arc a credit to your skill, 
 and the art with which they have been impressed upon printing paper." 
 Henry M. Stanley. 
 
 " It is a magnificent volume, containing a large store of information, and 
 admirably illustrated. Even the photographs apart from the text would render 
 it valuable, and with the text it is highly valuable." Herbert Spencer. 
 
 In Joyful Russia. 
 
 By John A. Logan, Jr. With 50 Illustrations in color and 
 black and white, i 2mo. Cloth, ^3.50. 
 
 "Of extreme interest from beginning to end. Mr. Logan has animation 
 of style, good spirits, a gift of agreeable and enlivening expression, and a certain 
 charm which may be called companionableness. To travel, with him must 
 have been a particular pleasure. He has sense of humor, a way of getting over 
 rough places, and understanding of human nature. There is not a dull chapter 
 in his book." Neiu York Times. 
 
 "Mr. Logan has written of the things which he saw with a fullness that 
 leaves nothing to be desired for their comprehension ; with an eye that was 
 quick to perceive their novelty, their picturesqueness, their national significance, 
 and with a mind not made up beforehand frankly open to new impressions, 
 alert in its perceptions, reasonable in its judgment, manly, independent, and, 
 like its environments, filled with holiday enthusiasm." New York Mail and 
 Express. 
 
 " Mr. Logan's narrative is spirited in tone and color. . . . A volume that 
 is entertaining and amusing, and not unworthy to be called instructive. The 
 5tyle is at all times lively and spirited, and full of good humor." Philadelphia 
 Press. 
 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. 
 
The Races of Europe. 
 
 A Sociological Study. By William Z. Ripley, 
 Ph. D., Assistant Professor of Sociology, Massa- 
 chusetts Institute of Technology ; Lecturer in An- 
 thropology at Columbia University, in the City of 
 
 New York. Crown 8vo, cloth; 650 pages, with 85 Maps 
 and 235 Portrah Types. With a Supplementary Bibliography of 
 nearly z,ooo Titles, separately bound in cloth, issued by the 
 Boston Public Library. 178 pages. - - - - Price, ^6.00 
 
 ** One of the most fascinating sociological and anthropo- 
 logical studies that have been offered of late to the pubUc. . . . 
 The book is one to be studied with care, and it is a pleasure 
 to commend it as most helpful to sociological students." 
 
 Chicago Evening Post. 
 
 "Will win the approval of all thoughtful readers; and the 
 care, patience, skill, and knowledge with which it is planned, 
 and the highly satisfactory manner in which the plan is car- 
 ried out, call for the very highest praise." 
 
 Boston Saturday Evening Gazette. 
 
 "One of the most important works of the year.'* 
 
 Nezu York Mail and Express. 
 
 " A valuable and interesting book. . . . Will attract the 
 attention of all students of anthropology and all its kindred 
 subjects. While it will most deeply interest advanced schol- 
 arly readers, it at the same time abounds in value for those 
 not among the learned classes." Chicago Inter-Ocean. 
 
 *An important work in the domain of anthropology and a 
 book of supreme interest at the present moment." 
 
 Chicago Times-Herald. 
 
 **Not only a profound sociological study but a scholarly 
 contribution to the science of anthropology and ethnology by 
 an eminent authority." Philadelphia Press. 
 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY. NEW YORK. 
 
A MAGNIFICENT WORKL 
 
 The Living Races of Mankind. 
 
 By H. N. Hutchinson, B A., F. R. G. S., F. G. S.; J. W. 
 Gregory, D. Sc, F. G. S. ; and R. Lydekker, F. R. 
 S., F. G. S., F. Z. S., etc.; Assisted by Eminent Spe- 
 cialists. A Popular Illustrated Account of the Customs, 
 Habits, Pursuits, Feasts, and Ceremonies of the Races 
 of Mankind throughout the World. 600 Illustrations 
 from Life. One volume, royal 8vo. $5.00 net; 
 postage, 65 cents additional. 
 
 The publication of this magnificent and unique work is peculiarly 
 opportune at this moment, when the trend of political expansion is breaking 
 down barriers between races and creating a demand for more intimate 
 knowledge of the various branches of the human family than has ever 
 before existed. 
 
 Mr. H. N. Hutchinson is the general editor ; he is well known as a 
 fertile writer on anthropological subjects, and has been engaged for several 
 years in collecting the vast amount of material (much of it having been 
 obtained with great difficulty from remote regions) herewith presented. 
 The pictures speak for themselves, and certainly no such perfect or complete 
 series of portaits of living races has ever before been attempted. The 
 letter-press has been prepared so as to appeal to the widest public possible. 
 
 In " The Living Races of Mankind " attention is confined to a popular 
 account of the existing peoples of the world. The various authors describe 
 how the widely scattered members of the great fraternity live ; what they 
 do ; their habitations, dress, ornaments, and weapons ; their religious feasts, 
 ceremonies, and superstitions ; their general characteristics, manners, and 
 customs in their daily relations with one another. 
 
 The superb illustrations are a new departure, and form a most 
 important feature. They are accurate and beautiful reproductions of 
 photographs from life and they form a collection not likely to be secured 
 again in the course of the coming century. 
 
 APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK 
 
^4' 
 
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 This book is DUE on the last datejtampe4 fegjp^. y> -^ny 
 
 Fine s 
 
 ; 25 cents on first day overdue 
 50 c^nt^ on fourth day ovfei-due. ;^ i^:; : 
 
 (!il ",Jj""'^T'' 
 
 OCT 10 1947 
 
 lojuis'^i-:' 
 
 'I I 
 
 
 ^nVi^ 
 
 ,^^^^^ 
 
 LD 
 
 MAR 1 fi 1955 IV 
 
 
 JAN 3 1956 LU 
 
 LOAN DEPt. 
 
 WAY T R 1954 rw ^."^j;^:' ^' ' ' Q"^ 
 
 2i-ioom-i2.'46(A20i2si6)4i20; '^' ^^ recall after 
 
 % 
 
 N'il^ 
 
 9* 
 
 -v^ 
 
 .^ 
 
 ^'rEBi5 73 89 
 
' 4, 
 
 8 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^^T-trrrtu^^A^ 
 
 
 if-, , t 
 
 -T#-..