"Eggs and bread are the only articles of food you can rely upon getting at the stations, and sometimes even the eggs are wanting. Bread is made from rye flour rather than from wheat, and its complexion is darker than that of the Boston brown bread of America. It is the bread of the peasant from one end of the Empire to the other, and a good many of the nobility prefer it to white bread. For my own part I never liked the black bread of Russia, but often ate it for lack of anything else.
"Up hill and down dale we went, and on the second morning of our journey the broad and beautiful valley of the Nertcha River lay before us. Two or three miles above the point where the Nertcha joins the Shilka lies the town of Nertchinsk, a well-built place with five or six thousand inhabitants. It has an air of wealth and solidity, and large fortunes have been made there by men interested in gold-mining. We entered the town through an arched gate-way, and drove to the house of a rich gold-miner with whom my friend was well acquainted. Hardly had we thrown off our wrappings before the _samovar_ was steaming on the table. We were urged to stay to dinner, and, much to my satisfaction, the invitation was accepted by my companion."
"Haven't I read about Nertchinsk as a place of exile?" said one of the youths.
"Quite likely you have," was the answer. "Nertchinsk and its gold-mines have a prominent place in the history of Siberian exile. Would you like to hear about it?"
"Of course we would," the youths eagerly responded. It was agreed that the journey through Siberia should be suspended until the new subject was disposed of.
[Illustration: VALLEY OF THE AMOOR ABOVE OUK-SE-ME.]
THE EXILES OF SIBERIA.--THE DECEMBRISTS AND THEIR EXPERIENCE.--SOCIAL POSITION OF EXILES.--DIFFERENT CLASSES OF EXILES AND THEIR SENTENCES.--CRIMINALS AND POLITICALS.--DEGREES OF PUNISHMENT.--PERPETUAL COLONISTS.--HOW EXILES TRAVEL.--LODGING-HOUSES AND PRISONS.--CONVOYS.--THRILLING STORY OF AN ESCAPE FROM SIBERIA.--SECRET ROADS.--HOW PEASANTS TREAT THE EXILES.--PRISONERS IN CHAINS.
"There are many errors in the popular mind of England and America concerning the system of exile to Siberia," said Mr. Hegeman, as he settled into a chair to begin his discourse on this interesting subject.