e.

Reaching the Yenisei river, the grandest stream in Siberia, the
train crosses a bridge 1,000 yards in length. But some time before
this a stoppage is made at the town of Obb, which is a striking
sample of the magical results of the railway. The whole country was
till recently a scene of wild desolation. The thriving community,
busy with a prosperous trade, is typical of the coming transformation
of Siberia.

A short distance beyond Irkutsk the line reaches one of the most
remarkable places in the world--Lake Baikal. This grand lake is as
long as England. It is nearly a mile deep, and covers an area of
13,430 square miles. Its surface is 1,500 feet above the level of
the sea. On every side it is hemmed in by lofty mountains, covered
with thick forest. Only a few tiny villages relieve its dreary
solitude. The early Russian settlers, impressed by the mystic silence
and gloomy grandeur of Baikal, named it the "Holy Sea." It abounds
in fish of many species, and every season thousands of pounds' worth
of salmon are caught and dried. At the north end great numbers of
seals have their habitat, the Buriat hunters sometimes taking as
many as 1,000 in a single season. Baikal is the only fresh-water
sea in the world in which this animal is found.

The Transbaikalian section takes the line from Lake Baikal to the
great Amur River. The line gradually ascends to the crest of the
Yablonoi Mountains, reaching a height of 3,412 feet above the sea
level. This is the greatest altitude of the Siberian Railway. In
this province of Transbaikalia lies the interesting city of Chita,
the far-off home of the most famous and estimable Socialist exiles
sent from Russia. From this point to the Amur, where Manchuria is
reached, the line is carried down the Pacific slope, through one
of the wildest and most romantic tracks ever penetrated by railway
engineers. It is not generally remembered that the Great Siberian
Railway was begun at the Pacific end, and that the present Tsar
Nicholas II., when Tsarevitch, inaugurated the colossal enterprise
by laying the first stone of the eastern terminus at Vladivostock,
on May 12, 1891.

_HIGH LIFE IN RUSSIA_

_THE COUNTESS OF GALLOWAY_

The Russian aristocracy and plutocracy have few powers or privileges
beyond that of serving their sovereign, and their position depends
entirely on the will of the emperor. Official rank is the only
distinction, and all ranks or "tchin," as it is called, is reg