Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - IV. Through the Forest-Region
<< 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)
centuries has been trodden by a million prisoners, the
clanking of whose chains has echoed against the dark walls
of the gloomy forest through which they march.
In a quarter of an hour we were again in the taiga.
If you want to know Siberia and the Siberians, you must
first get acquainted with the taiga, which occupies such a
vast area of the country and exerts so strong an influence
on the character and the habits of its people. Before we
proceed further on our journey therefore, it will be worth
while for me to try and give some idea of it.
It is difficult from our knowledge of European forests to
form any just conception of the Siberian taiga. Our
tree-covered areas, however large they may be, are limited by
fields and villages; in a word, they are controlled by man.
But no human hand controls the Siberian taiga. Dark and
almost impenetrable it covers a marshy lowland extending
more than 4500 miles from east to west, and from 1000 to
1500 miles from south to north. In this endless monotony
there is no change, no variety. You may travel hundreds
and thousands of miles without seeing a human habitation,
or any living creature other than wild animals or perhaps
some stray Tungus or Ostiak. Only by means of the great
rivers and their tributaries may civilised man penetrate this
gigantic wilderness, whose inmost depths have never been
trodden by the foot of any human being, for even the
natives keep near the rivers. The taiga as yet rules supreme
and bids defiance to the explorer.
The taiga has its secret, which it hides in its sombre
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
