Travelogues; . that is, asfresh as distance and slow communication will permit. Allthis is most impressive â from the cathedral to the importedfinery. It speaks of wealth and luxury ; but the Irkutsk ofthe traveler is comfortless in the extreme. Yet even theabominable hotel in which we lodged and tried to eat looksalmost attractive in an illustration. You do not see theunwashed linen, the grimy waiters, nor can you scent theodors that pervade the Gastinitsa Metropole. The contrasts THE TRANS-SIBERIAN RAILWAY 281 in Irkutsk are striking, log-houses and electric lights, mud-holes before the hous
Travelogues; . that is, asfresh as distance and slow communication will permit. Allthis is most impressive â from the cathedral to the importedfinery. It speaks of wealth and luxury ; but the Irkutsk ofthe traveler is comfortless in the extreme. Yet even theabominable hotel in which we lodged and tried to eat looksalmost attractive in an illustration. You do not see theunwashed linen, the grimy waiters, nor can you scent theodors that pervade the Gastinitsa Metropole. The contrasts THE TRANS-SIBERIAN RAILWAY 281 in Irkutsk are striking, log-houses and electric lights, mud-holes before the houses of the millionaires, infinite leisure forthe officials, and never-ending labor for the mujiks. Thelumber industry is the most conspicuous local is protected on the river side by the most splendidwall of logs that I have ever seen,â a mountain-range ofhorizontal timber rises along the river bank for several would appear as if the forests of Siberia had all been ~)X^^^P^lXf^ â . SQUARE OF THE CATHEDRAL, IRKUTSK felled, and that their trees were lying prostrate for milesalong the high banks of the Angara. Two days exhaust thesights of this new city, which at the same time is quite old,for Irkutsk dates from 1654, and was a place of great impor-tance long before the Trans-Siberian was dreamed of. Itsfuture will be shaped by the railway ; its place at one of thegreat cross-roads of the eastern hemisphere is already indeed was the presence there in 1901 of twoEnglishmen who came to the station to see us off, for 282 THE TRANS-SIBERIAN RAILWAY
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectsouthamericadescript
