. The "Overland" to China. rs, as was to be expected, have,since they came in contact with the civilized world,been much exploited. On the distant coasts andislands of the northeast, foreign whalers have foryears obtained quantities of furs in barter for spiritof the vilest quality and other contraband productsof civilization. Other fur-hunting tribes within easierreach by land are still more systematically taken ad-vantage of: the Kamchatkans by the Russians them-selves; the Golos, or Orochs, by the Chinese; and theTunguses by the Yakuts. The usual system is tomake advances on the seasons fur
. The "Overland" to China. rs, as was to be expected, have,since they came in contact with the civilized world,been much exploited. On the distant coasts andislands of the northeast, foreign whalers have foryears obtained quantities of furs in barter for spiritof the vilest quality and other contraband productsof civilization. Other fur-hunting tribes within easierreach by land are still more systematically taken ad-vantage of: the Kamchatkans by the Russians them-selves; the Golos, or Orochs, by the Chinese; and theTunguses by the Yakuts. The usual system is tomake advances on the seasons furs, and thus en-tantile the guileless native in debt. That accom-plished, he is never allowed to escape the toils, andthe furs are procured, year by year, for prices far 7 OVERLAND TO CHINA below their real value. Iri other branches of tradethe natives are no less shamelessly cheated, Russianofficialdom offering no protection. The fresh-water fishing industry, though carriedout on a large scale, is at present of hardly more. TUNGUSE IN WINTER HUNTING COSTUME than local importance. The fish is mostly con-sumed locally, Siberian salting being too roughlyexecuted to have created much export trade. Origi-nally the Siberian rivers abounded in fish, but thewasteful and indiscriminate methods which havecharacterized the fisheries during the past genera-tion have had a visibly perceptible influence on 72 SIBERIA their numbers. A conservancy department and im-proved processes of preparation for distant marketswould, however, notwithstanding past waste, establishthis industry as one of the leading auxiliary sourcesof revenue of the countr}^ The same remark appliesto the fur industry, which, under the present want ofsystem, is also threatened with serious diminution,owing to the ruthless and ill-regulated slaughter offur animals. The cheaper skins, those for examplethat find their way into China, are open to thecriticism of being badly prepared for export. Siberian fish include some splend
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