Oliver George Ready

“ Roads were wretched, being mere tracks a foot deep in mud, and looked as though they had never been repaired, or even made.
Houses built low with no upper storey, walls of wooden beams and roofs of thatch. Men mostly clad in sheep skins, and women in red dresses with a red cloth over the head, bare legs and sandals. Winter wheat well grown.
19th October.—Passed a good night, despite five in the compartment. This morning much colder, and [9] at 10 o’clock saw snow, at first lying in drifts, but gradually increasing as the day wore on until everything was covered, while ponds were frozen. ”

“ Two engines to haul us up, and coming down the descent was made in gradients, the train first running a mile or so one way, then stopping, when the engines were shunted to the other end, when we ran about a mile in the opposite direction, and so on, so that we described a perfect zigzag. A tunnel through this range of hills is being bored, and a colony of 150 Italian mechanics, together with their wives, has been imported to do it. Boukhédou is already quite a large place with numbers of substantial Russian houses built of wood, and many more, as well as a station, in course of construction. ”

“ I subsequently learnt that everyone in Russia—not only travellers but also all Russians—must have a passport, without which it is impossible to get even a night’s lodging, so that the entire population comes directly and constantly under the eye of the police. ”

“ The greater part of this journey of over 5,000 miles from Moscow to the Far East, which I was about to make in a few days in a train de luxe, was, until recently, made by the wretched exiles on foot, taking from one to two years.
22nd October.—Passed through flat, uninteresting country. Much wheat cultivated. No trees, no hedges, no ditches and but little grass. Cloudy and depressing. Inhabitants ill-clad and poverty stricken. Miserable houses with mud or wooden walls and thatch roofs. ”

“ Money has been poured out like water by the Russians in constructing the Railway and in building Dalny, and it is very doubtful if this [24] gigantic enterprise will ever be made to pay. It is said that Dalny, which is identical with Talienwan, can never thrive unless Newchwang be closed to foreign trade. The harbour has a depth of 28 feet and is being dredged. The Railway Company’s line of superb steamers carrying mails, passengers and a little cargo between Dalny and Shanghai, is being run at a heavy loss. ”

“ In striking contrast to such wealth, some of the chapels had dirty, uneven brick floors, and were horribly dark. Afterwards I passed through the Treasury, until I was [11] weary of looking on diamond-studied saddles, bejewelled swords and guns, thrones, crowns, the regalia and coronation robes of all the Russian Czars, etc., etc. Altogether the wealth of the Kremlin must represent scores of millions of pounds in value.
The bazaars of Moscow are far-famed, though more so in Asia than in Europe. ”

“ The station is perhaps a mile from the river and of considerable size, though still in a rough stage, for Harbin is the junction of the line to Vladivostock and the line to Dalny and Port Arthur. Here was a great deal of rolling-stock—scores of cars and many engines.
After leaving Harbin armed guards along the line were more numerous, while every few miles were brick-built block-houses surrounded by loop-holed walls.
The country looked fertile and well cultivated, and the Manchu and Chinese inhabitants more prosperous. Rolling hills and a few trees. Much warmer. No snow. ”

“ Country very hilly and beautiful in the snow. Passing up a valley between lofty hills, noticed a corduroy road made of transverse trunks of trees, as seen in Canada. Well built water-towers about 30 feet high at all stations for watering engines. Country looked more thriving here than in European Russia. Better houses, and bright skies instead of lowering ones. ”

“ At Miasse, the next stopping place and the first station in Asia, saw many natives clad in skins, with very yellow and Asiatic looking faces, dirty. Here I bought two crystal eggs as paper-weights. In a booth at one end of the platform saw several stuffed specimens of game found in this neighbourhood. Wapiti, lynx, deer, wolf, fox, etc. Highest point reached by railway about 3,000 feet. Many nice views. Ground covered with snow. Country very thinly populated. ”

“ China ponies were numerous here. Women and men very ugly and dirty. Sledges in use for carrying litter, hay, wood, etc. To many stations the most delicious milk and cream I have ever tasted were brought in bottles by women and girls, for sale to the passengers, [14] and at very cheap rates. Occasionally also, a few pears and apples of fair quality could be purchased, but the amount of fruit grown seemed to be small.
27th October.—Much warmer, there being a good deal of snow, with bright sun. At about 2 o’clock reached Krasnoiarsk, a considerable town. ”

“ During winter when the frozen ground is covered with snow and no pasturage is to be found, it is said that they live on the fat stored in these tails, in the same manner as camels exist for considerable periods on their humps, seals on their blubber, and bears by sucking their paws. ”

“ Now, however, that war has broken out between Russia and Japan, and that it may be years before this, the longest railway in the world, is again open to international traffic, I feel that any information, however slight, concerning so stupendous an undertaking, as well as about the remote region which it traverses, may be of interest to the general public. ”

“ Good private residences, factories, hotels, shops, public buildings, the beginnings of botanical and zoological gardens, a dry dock measuring, I judged, about 350 feet by 70, wharves, breakwaters, dredgers, tugs, steamers ... everything except the one thing needful, trade. Of the half-dozen fine steamers in port, and others either arriving or preparing to depart, all were practically light. ”

“ Saw many small houses with only roofs above ground. Many tame pigeons and a few magpies, but hardly any other bird-life. Horses, or rather, ponies, small and poor. Skirted the river Angara for a long distance in early morning. View lovely. Water, where not frozen, clear as crystal. Swift current, which, breaking over boulders, showed that there was no great [15] depth. Saw three small boys clad in furs fishing through a hole made in the snow-covered ice. At 11 o’clock reached Irkoutsk, but saw very little of it as the station is two miles out of the town. ”

“ Some were built partly below ground for warmth, while earth heaped up round the walls and over the roofs, gave them the appearance of enormous potato heaps, having a door, chimney, and two or three windows. Churches were the only substantial buildings. ”

“ No trace of snow. At Tienline saw some rickshas, also good, brick European houses being built. Chinese navvies working on the line, a good deal of rolling-stock, [22] and truck-loads of superior looking bricks. Chinese were wheeling barrow-loads of mud instead of, as is usual, carrying it in baskets, owing, probably, to Muscovite persuasion. ”