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even under such conditions, and being watched at every
step by their guards, Tschekanovsky and his companion
were true to their mission as scientists, making a rich
collection of insects. With the aid of a magnifying-glass,
which they themselves made from a fragment of a broken
decanter, which they ground and polished, they classified
the ants they had collected. This and other similar
occupations helped to keep up their courage in the midst of
the nameless misery of their march, and both of them
reached Tobolsk safely. On the way between Tobolsk
and Tomsk, however, where they arrived at the beginning
of the winter of 1864, Tschekanovsky was attacked with
typhus fever, and his state was considered to be hopeless.
He recovered, but the disease left its traces, which lasted
for life, and doubtless in the end contributed to his
premature death.
He had not even fully recovered, when he was sent on
to Irkutsk, and in May 1865 he arrived at his place of
exile in Transbaikalia. In that region, which offered so
much of the greatest interest to the naturalist, he had to
spend a year under circumstances which made it impossible
for him to devote himself to any scientific researches
whatever. In 1866 he was transported to a distant village on
the river Angara, east of Irkutsk, where he suffered from
the direst want, having to work as a common day-labourer
for the poor peasants. Yet, even under such circumstances
he did some very valuable geological work, contrived
to make various scientific collections, and, in addition,
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