Page:Siberia and the Exile System Vol 2.djvu/119

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A RIDE THROUGH THE TRANS-BAIKAL
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catch a glimpse of blue, hazy mountains far away in Mongolia. Kiákhta, which stands on the border-line between Mongolia and Siberia, does not appear at first sight to be anything more than a large, prosperous village. It contains

A GENERAL VIEW OF KIÁKHTA, SHOWING THE 'NEUTRAL GROUND'

a greater number of comfortable-looking two-story log dwelling-houses than are to be found in most East-Siberian villages, and it has one or two noticeable churches of the Russo-Greek type with white walls and belfries surmounted by colored or gilded domes; but one would