ine will notice
that the track runs across the upper waters of the great rivers,
just about where they begin to be navigable. All through the summer,
at any rate, America and England will, by the Arctic passage and
by these mighty rivers, communicate with the heart of Asia, the
railway in the far interior completing the circle of commerce.
Other results will follow. Siberia at present contains a population
of four million--less by more than a million than London reckons
within its borders. Millions of the Russian peasantry in Europe are
in a condition of chronic semi-starvation. Ere long thousands of
these will weekly stream to the new Canaan in the East. Within the
borders of Siberia, the whole of the United States of America could
be enclosed, with a great spare ring around for the accommodation
of a collection of little kingdoms. In the wake of the new line
towns are springing up like mushrooms. Many of these will become
great cities. There are several reasons for this development. The
first is that the railway runs through South Siberia, where the
climate is delightfully mild compared with the rigorous conditions
of the atmosphere further north. The next reason is that all the
chief gold-fields are in this southern latitude.

One characteristic worthy of note is the absolute security aimed
at by the administration of the line. Train and track are protected
by an immense army of guards. The road is divided into sections
of a verst each, a verst being about two-thirds of a mile. Every
section is marked by a neat cottage, the home of the guard and
his family. Night and day the guard or one of his household must
patrol the section. A train is never out of sight of the guards,
several of whom are employed wherever there are heavy curves. There
are nearly 4,000 of these guards on the stretch between the Urals
and Tomsk. All sense of solitude is thus removed from the mind of
the traveller. The old post road through Siberia is one of the
most dangerous routes in the world, being infested by murderous
"brodyags," or runaway convicts; but the Siberian line is as safe
as Cheapside or Oxford Street. With the fact of perfect safety
is soon blended in the mind of the observer that of plenty. All
along this wonderful route grass is seen growing in rank luxuriance
that can hardly be equalled in any other part of the globe, Siberia
being emphatically a grass-growing country. It is the original home
of the whole graniferous stock.