tains, where they started a marauding business with limited
liability and restricted capital. Crossing the Urals, Yermak
subjugated the country west of the Irtish and founded a fortress on
the site of Sibeer. He overpowered all the Tartars in his vicinity,
and received a pardon for himself and men in return for his conquest.
The czar, as a mark of special fondness, sent Yermak a suit of armor
from his own wardrobe. Yermak went one day to dine with some Tartar
chiefs, and was arrayed for the first time in his new store clothes.
One tradition says he was treacherously killed by the Tartars on this
occasion, and thrown in the river. Another story says he fell in by
accident, and the weight of his armor drowned him. A monument at
Tobolsk commemorates his deeds.

No leader rose to fill Yermak's place, and the Russians became divided
into several independent bands. They had the good sense not to
quarrel, and remained firm in the pursuit of conquest. They pushed
eastward from the Irtish and founded Tomsk in 1604. Ten years later
the Tartars united and attempted to expel the Russians. They
surrounded Tomsk and besieged it for a long time. Russia was then
distracted by civil commotions and the war with the Poles, and could
not assist the Cossacks. The latter held out with great bravery, and
at length gained a decisive victory. From that time the Tartars made
no serious and organized resistance.

Subsequent expeditions for Siberian conquest generally originated at
Tomsk. Cossacks pushed to the north, south, and east, forming
settlements in the valley of the Yenesei and among the Yakuts of the
Lena. In 1639 they reached the shores of the Ohotsk sea, and took
possession of all Eastern Siberia to the Aldan mountains.

I believe history has no parallel to some features of this conquest. A
robber-chieftain with a few hundred followers,--himself and his men
under ban, and, literally, the first exiles to Siberia--passes from
Europe to Asia. In seventy years these Cossacks and their descendants,
with, little aid from others, conquered a region containing nearly
five million square miles. Everywhere displaying a spirit of adventure
and determined bravery, they reduced the Tartars to the most perfect
submission. The cost of their expeditions was entirely borne by
individuals who sought remuneration in the lucrative trade they
opened. The captured territory became Russian, though the government
had neither paid for nor controlled the con