Ocean, some hundreds
of miles N.-E. of the mouth of the Lena river. Captain de Long and his
party, in three ship's boats, made their way over and through the ice
towards the Lena delta, but one of the boats (under Lieut. Chipp)
foundered with all hands. Another one, commanded by Chief Engineer (now
Admiral) Melville, reached the Siberian coast and found the natives and
salvation, but Captain de Long and his crew landed on the Lena delta,
and being unable to find a settlement or procure food, his entire party,
consisting of twelve persons, perished, after horrible sufferings, of
exposure and starvation. The bodies were eventually found by Melville,
and conveyed to America for interment.]

The _ispravnik's_ house, or rather hut, was no better, within or
without, than others in Verkhoyansk, which consists of one street, or
rather straggling avenue of mud hovels with ice windows and the usual
low entrance guarded by a felt-covered door. The entire population does
not exceed four hundred souls, of whom, perhaps, half were Yakutes and
the remainder officials, Russian settlers and political exiles. Talking
of exiles, I have found that, as a rule, very erroneous impressions
exist in England as to the conditions under which they are sent to
Siberia, a country which has often been greatly maligned by the English
Press. For this great prison-land is not always one of dungeons and
lifelong incarceration. The latter certainly awaits the active
revolutionist, but, on the other hand, an erring journalist may, for an
"imprudent" paragraph, be sent to vegetate for only a couple of months
within sight of the Urals. As Gilbert's "Mikado" would say, "the
punishment fits the crime." And in the towns of Western Siberia I have
frequently met men originally banished for a short term who, rather than
return to Russia, have elected to remain in a land where living is
cheaper, and money more easily gained than at home. Olenin, of Yakutsk,
was a case in point.

The exile of State offenders to Siberia is generally carried out by what
is called the "Administrative Process," or, in other words, by a secret
tribunal composed of civil and military members. There are no Press
reports of the trial, which is held strictly _in camera_, and, as a
rule, a political "suspect" vanishes as completely from the face of the
earth as a pebble cast into the sea. Usually the blow falls
unexpectedly. A man may be seated quietly at home with his family, in
his offic