Petersburg, 73 deg. 51' 48". It is built on the
margin of the river Angarra, and contains a population now probably
exceeding twenty thousand souls. The markets are good, the society is
pleasant, and a traveller finds in the very heart of Siberia almost all
the luxuries of life. In visiting the public works, the governor took
Mr. Dobell to an immense brick building, where he found the workshops of
the exiles.

"In that large range, one sees joiners, carpenters,
carriage-makers, saddlers, blacksmiths, and in short, all sorts
of tradesmen, busily occupied, and all provided with
comfortable apartments, clean clothing, and wholesome food.
From this we passed to the cloth factory, the contemplation of
which afforded me much pleasure, when I recollected that those
beings before me, who were once the victims of depravity,
exhibited no longer any thing to inspire me with the idea of
their having been criminals. All was gaiety and cheerfulness.
There I saw men, women, and children, all industriously
employed in weaving, spinning, carding, picking wool, &c. They
were arranged in several large, clean, warm, and comfortable
apartments; and they really appeared as contented as any
labourers I ever saw; for they looked fat and healthy.

"The cloth is made from the wool and hair of the Buretta sheep,
camels, and goats. It stands the Government in about a rouble
the arshin, and sells for two roubles. This profit, after
paying the expenses of the manufactory, leaves a surplus that
is used to furnish the hospitals, and for other laudable
purposes. Such an institution does honour to any country; nor
can there be a more praiseworthy application of the industry of
those exiles than that which operates to relieve the sick, the
fatherless, and the widow.

"There is every reason to conclude, from the examples which
have been furnished by those countries which have adopted this
system, that the idea of confinement and hard labour is a more
powerful preventive of the commission of crimes than the fear
of death."

At the public ship yard, Mr. Dobell saw a brig on the stocks, destined
to navigate the Baikal. The vessels generally used on that sea are built
on its shores, on account of the difficulty of ascending against the
current of the Angarra. Those belonging to the government are employed
principall