es, together with the improved methods of
manufacturing brought about by the creameries, causes Siberian butter
to rank with the best products found in the European markets. The dairy
products are shipped by rail to various parts of Europe, large
quantities going to England and to Denmark, the home of dairying.
Sometimes three hundred tons of butter per week are shipped to
Copenhagen and one thousand tons to London. Upward of eighty million
pounds are annually exported, and it is said that by a little exertion
fifteen times the amount could be easily produced. The industry is still
only in its infancy.

In the Tobol and Ishim plains of western Siberia are the fertile
black-earth regions covering twenty-five million acres. As yet, they are
sparsely settled, but they are capable of supporting half the population
of Russia. Two-thirds of the inhabitants of Siberia are Russians, and in
timbered regions probably one-half live in log houses, for these are
capable of being made the most comfortable dwellings in the world.

Many exaggerated statements have appeared, both in England and America,
concerning the exile system. This, happily, is now abolished, as also
have been the cruelties practised by those in charge. That there have
been great abuses no one denies, but the conditions of the prisons can
be paralleled both in England and the United States. No more common
criminals are sent to Siberia.

Transportation is now limited chiefly to escaped convicts and to
political and religious criminals, most of whom are sent to the island
of Sakhalin. Capital punishment, except in cases of attacks on the royal
family and condemnation by courts-martial, was abolished many years ago.

Lake Baikal is one of the most remarkable lakes in the world. It is four
hundred miles long and from twenty to sixty miles wide. The lake is very
deep, and, although situated in the temperate zone, is the home of a
species of arctic seal and tropical coral. This species of seal is
found nowhere in Asian waters outside of the Arctic Ocean, except in
this lake and the Caspian Sea. Immense quantities of salmon of different
species abound in the lake, and give rise to important fishing
industries.

In winter the lake is covered with ice seven feet thick. Crossing is
made by huge ice-breaking ferryboats capable of carrying thirty cars and
one thousand men, yet only during a part of the winter is the boat able
to navigate, so persistent is the extreme cold