. Side-lights on Siberia; some account of the great Siberian railroad, the prisons and exile system; . on the road to Irkutsk may be shortly de-scribed. It was in a very tumble-down condition, and thewooden entrance-gate was represented now by only a thirdof its former self— not very like the door of a prison, asthe captain remarked; but he added, I have very littlemoney, and so what can I do ? There was also a smallhospital in connection with this etcqyc, which was muchcleaner and tidier than the ctape proper. There were onlytwo wards, one for women and another for men: an ironbedstead with p
. Side-lights on Siberia; some account of the great Siberian railroad, the prisons and exile system; . on the road to Irkutsk may be shortly de-scribed. It was in a very tumble-down condition, and thewooden entrance-gate was represented now by only a thirdof its former self— not very like the door of a prison, asthe captain remarked; but he added, I have very littlemoney, and so what can I do ? There was also a smallhospital in connection with this etcqyc, which was muchcleaner and tidier than the ctape proper. There were onlytwo wards, one for women and another for men: an ironbedstead with pillow, blanket, and mattress completed therough-and-ready arrangements. ISG ON THE MAKCH. Sometimes we met parties on the road. On one occasion itwas simply a party of women, most of them elderly, drivingin carts. Four soldiers were in charge, and everybody wastaking matters very leisurely. One guard walked in front,another in the rear, while the remaining pair supported theflanks. East of Lake Baikal one noticed some slight differences inthe general character of the etaprfi compared with those. A// ctape, )-?/ ^lii-rni. farther to the west. Almost without exception they werenow situated on a bare patch of ground distinctly outsidethe village at its eastern end, so that the convicts traversedits whole length on arrival. Thus they have an opportunityof exciting the compassion and generosity of the villagers. THE BUILDING OF ^TAPES. 187 This they contrive to do by uniting to the best of their abilityin a weird discordant chant, the burden of which is a cry formercy intensified by realistic word-pictures of the desolationof their existence. The ctapcs had always a smart appear-ance from the outside, and were more cleanly within thanthose in the west; while if the smaller polu-ctapes sometimeslooked lonely and anremic, the same could hardly be said ofthe full (tapes, which were enlivened by the presence ofgymnastic apparatus on a large scale for the benefit of thesoldiers.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectsiberia, bookyear1898
