nisei River enters Russian territory
is the wonderfully interesting fertile prairie region of Minusinsk.
Being well watered and sheltered on all sides by mountains, it is one of
the most fertile spots in all Siberia. Here the disintegration of
gold-bearing rocks has formed large mining fields which are profitably
worked. In the vicinity are also valuable iron mines, which were opened
early in the prehistoric period, and which are still worked.

[Illustration: Driving over the tundra in winter]

Because of its delightful climate and special attractions for the
archaeologist, this charming section is called the "Italy of Siberia."
There have been obtained from the mounds found in this section many
thousand relics relating to prehistoric man which exemplify his progress
from the stone age through the bronze to the iron age. This fine
collection of upward of sixty thousand different articles is housed in
an imposing and substantial museum erected in the town of Minusinsk.
This building contains the richest collection of implements representing
the bronze age in the world.

The forest belt is so immense that the wooded plains of the Amazon
shrink into comparative insignificance. For the most part these great
forests are composed of evergreen trees, the fir, pine, larch, and
pitch-pine predominating. In many localities there are hundreds of
square miles of perfectly straight pine trees of great height, where
neither man nor beast could find the way out. Even experienced trappers
dare not enter these forests without blazing trees along their pathway,
so that they may be able to extricate themselves by retracing their
steps. In these huge evergreen solitudes there is an inexhaustible
supply of the finest timber in the world. In every sense of the word
they are solitudes; for one may travel scores of miles without meeting
or hearing either bird or beast.

At the conclusion of the war between Japan and Russia it was stipulated
that Russia should cede to Japan the southern part of Sakhalin Island.
The cession was made in 1905. During the following two years a large
number of Russians and Japanese were employed in marking the boundary,
by cutting through the forest from east to west a strip one hundred
miles long and twelve miles wide. The fir forests of the Japanese
portion, covering more than three million acres, are alone estimated to
be worth forty-five million dollars, to say nothing about the extensive
coal deposits and t