"'They are going to Perm,' said the captain of the _Nadeshda_, 'and some of them are on the way to Siberia.'
"We asked if this was the way to Siberia, and the captain explained that it was one of the routes. 'Steamers ascend the Kama to Perm,' said he, 'and from Perm there is a railway to Ekaterineburg, which is on the Siberian side of the Ural Mountains. The line has been extended to Tumen, three hundred miles farther, and ultimately it will be pushed on till it reaches Irkutsk, on the shores of Lake Baikal, and close to the frontier of China.'
"How we wished we could make the journey through Siberia! Over the Ural Mountains, across the Steppes, down the Amoor, and out into the waters of the Pacific Ocean! What a magnificent tour, and what strange things to see on the way!
"Mr. Hegeman heard our wish, and said he would tell us all about the trip across Siberia as soon as we were under way again. As the _Nadeshda_ steamed down the Volga he gave us an account, which we have tried to preserve as nearly as possible in his own words."
AVATCHA BAY, IN KAMTCHATKA.--ATTACK UPON PETROPAVLOVSK BY THE ALLIED FLEET.--DOGS AND DOG-DRIVING.--RAPID TRAVELLING WITH A DOG-TEAM.--POPULATION AND RESOURCES OF KAMTCHATKA.--REINDEER AND THEIR USES.--THE AMOOR RIVER.--NATIVE TRIBES AND CURIOUS CUSTOMS.--TIGERS IN SIBERIA.--NAVIGATION OF THE AMOOR.--OVERLAND TRAVELLING IN SIBERIA.--RIDING IN A TARANTASSE.--A ROUGH ROAD.--AN AMUSING MISTAKE.--FROM STRATENSK TO NERTCHINSK.--GOLD-MINING IN SIBERIA.
"My first visit to the Russian Empire," said Mr. Hegeman, "was made from San Francisco across the Pacific Ocean. I sailed out of the Golden Gate in the direction of Kamtchatka, and after a voyage of thirty days we sighted the summit of Avatcha Mountain, a magnificent volcano that serves as a landmark to vessels approaching Avatcha Bay. This bay is one of the finest I have ever seen. I do not think it surpassed by the famous bays of Naples or Rio Janeiro."
Doctor Bronson nodded assent to Mr. Hegeman's opinion. He had been in Avatcha Bay, which he briefly described to the youths while Mr. Hegeman was lighting a cigar.
[Illustration: PETROPAVLOVSK, KAMTCHATKA.--MOUNT AVATCHA IN BACKGROUND.]
"It is about ten miles across, and nearly circular," said the Doctor, "and its entrance from the ocean is nearly a mile in width. Avatcha Mountain is directly in front of the entrance, so that a navigator entering the bay has little more to do than steer straight towards the volcano and keep his vessel midway between the two sides of the entrance. Around the bay there are six or eight little harbors, completely landlocked. On one of these harbors is Petropavlovsk (Port of St. Peter and St. Paul), the principal place of trade in Kamtchatka. Once it had a population of two or three thousand. It was attacked by the allied fleets in the Crimean War, and suffered severely. After the war the naval headquarters were removed to Nicolayevsk, at the mouth of the Amoor."