to the shores of the Icy Sea. A
very important part of this region is the famous Siberia. The land
here is not of much value for cultivation, on account of the long and
dreary winters and the consequent shortness of the summer season. But
this very coldness of the climate causes it to produce a great number
of fine fur-bearing animals, such as the sable, the mink, the ermine,
and the otter; for nature has so arranged it that, the colder any
climate is, the finer and the warmer is the fur which grows upon the
animals that live there.

The inhabitants of Siberia are employed, therefore, chiefly in hunting
wild animals for their flesh or their fur, and in working the mines;
and, from time immemorial, it has been the custom to send criminals
there in banishment, and compel them to spend the remainder of their
lives in these toilsome and dangerous occupations. Of course, the
cold, the exposure, and the fatigue, joined to the mental distress and
suffering which the thought of their hard fate and the recollections of
home must occasion, soon bring far the greater proportion of these
unhappy outcasts to the grave.

Peter interested himself very much in efforts to open communications
with these retired and almost inaccessible regions, and to improve and
extend the working of the mines. But his thoughts were chiefly
occupied with the condition of the European portion of his dominions,
and with schemes for introducing more and more fully the arts and
improvements of western Europe among his people. He was ready to seize
upon every occasion which could furnish any hint or suggestion to this
end.

The manner in which his attention was first turned to the subject of
ship-building illustrated this. In those days Holland was the great
centre of commerce and navigation for the whole world, and the art of
ship-building had made more progress in that nation than in any other.
The Dutch held colonies in every quarter of the globe. Their
men-of-war and their fleets of merchantmen penetrated to every sea, and
their naval commanders were universally renowned for their enterprise,
their bravery, and their nautical skill.

The Dutch not only built ships for themselves, but orders were sent to
their ship-yards from all parts of the world, inasmuch as in these
yards all sorts of vessels, whether for war, commerce, or pleasure,
could be built better and cheaper than in any other place.

One of the chief centres in which these ship a