. Europe and other continents . lor other reasons. Gold has been found in a number ofplaces, as in the Urals and near Lake Baikal, the largestfresh-water lake on the continent. But while there ismuch mineral wealth in Siberia, there has been littlemining, excepting in the western part near Russia. A new era seems about to open for this vast empire, for theRussian government is now constructing extensive railways 380 ASIA which will open up the country for development. One systemextends eastward from the Caspian Sea to Turkestan (Fig. 241),while another and longer one reaches from Russia in Eur
. Europe and other continents . lor other reasons. Gold has been found in a number ofplaces, as in the Urals and near Lake Baikal, the largestfresh-water lake on the continent. But while there ismuch mineral wealth in Siberia, there has been littlemining, excepting in the western part near Russia. A new era seems about to open for this vast empire, for theRussian government is now constructing extensive railways 380 ASIA which will open up the country for development. One systemextends eastward from the Caspian Sea to Turkestan (Fig. 241),while another and longer one reaches from Russia in Europeto the Pacific Ocean. Trace it on Figure 241. Hitherto trans-portation across the vast plains, arid steppes, and rugged east-ern mountains has been difficult in the extreme. While thelarge rivers are very useful in summer, their importance forcommerce is greatly lessened because some of them lead intosalt lakes without outlet, while others enter the frozen Arcticand are themselves frozen over during a large part of the Fig. village in Siberia. Heretofore the products of Siberia could not easily beexported; nor could machinery and other manufactured arti-cles be brought in without the greatest difficulty. But by thebuilding of railways we may expect a rapid development ofSiberia, whose resources are far greater than the sparseness ofthe population would indicate. Indeed, since the longer rail-way was begun there has been a rapid increase in populationand exports, especially of corn. There are some important cities in Russia in largest in the southwest is Tashkend, which is aboutthe size of Indianapolis. Tiflis, between the Black andCaspian seas, is really in Asia, though the Russian gov- BUS SI A IN ASIA 381 eminent classes this region with its European is about the size of Tashkend. There are a number ofother cities with a population of from fifty to a hundredthousand. In Siberia there are no large cities, thoughseveral along the railway, i
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