CHAPTER V
A SIBERIAN CONVICT BARGE
THE town of Tiumén, and the province of Tobólsk in which it is situated, have much more commercial importance than is generally supposed. Siberian cold and Siberian desolation have been so much talked and written about, and have been brought so forcibly to the attention of the world by the terrible experience of De Long and the survivors of the Jeannette, that nine readers out of ten, in forming a conception of the country, give undue prominence to its arctic side and its winter aspect. When, in conversation since my return, I have happened to refer to Siberian tobacco, Siberian orchids, or Siberian camels, my remarks have even been received with smiles of incredulity. I do not know any better way to overthrow the erroneous popular conception of Siberia than to assail it with facts and statistics, even at the risk of being wearisome. I will therefore say, briefly, that the province of Tobólsk, which is the part of Siberia with which a traveler from Europe first becomes acquainted, extends from the coast of the arctic ocean to the sun-scorched steppes of Semipalátinsk and Akmolínsk, and from the mountains of the Urál to the boundary line of Yeniséisk and Tomsk. It has an area of 590,000 square miles and includes 27,000,000 acres of arable land. It contains 8 towns of from 3000 to 20,000 inhabitants, and its total population exceeds 1,200,000. In the last year for which I was able to get statistics the province produced 30,044,880 bushels of grain and 3,778,230 bushels of potatoes,
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