Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XXI. Up the Yenisei
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has been proofread at least once.
(diff)
(history)
Denna sida har korrekturlästs minst en gång.
(skillnad)
(historik)
with still more sables, and finally there was enough for the
ministerial fur-coat... That is the way things were done
in those days; but now it is impossible to make anything
out of the Ostiak!’
“But after all the Ostiak is not even now ‘such a villain’
and ‘such a cunning beast’ as the chief of the police and
Madame Kopylicha pretend. Even now the Ostiak procures
—and that on any order from the minister—enough sables
not only for the fur-coat and cap of the chief of police,
but also for those of his wife, his children, his relations and
his friends. The Ostiak gives sables to the missionary
priest, and to the merchant, who rules as an autocrat over
the tundra.”
We spent three days in Turukansk. The long
winter-night had set in, and the “society” of the place had
commenced the winter season, having their parties by turn in
different houses almost every night, drinking vodka and
playing cards—both men and women—until 3 o’clock in the
morning. One morning one of the ladies said to me, her
face beaming, that she had won 7 roubles during the night.
While the haute société were drinking and playing one
night, I slipped off to the political exiles—a doctor of
philosophy, and a few working-men, who had been exiled
on account of their socialistic views. The doctor lived in
a small hut, which he heated in the day-time with a
miserable stove; but in the night the temperature would
sink to 14° Fahr., and the poor man suffered much from
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
