ts of an average
Englishman. But even European Russia is an unutterably dreary land in a
stranger's eyes, which perhaps accounts for this remarkable fact.

The most pitiable characteristic about Sredni-Kolymsk is perhaps the
morbid influence of the place and its surroundings on the mental powers.
The first thing noticeable amongst those who had passed some years here
was the utter vacancy of mind, even of men who in Europe had shone in
the various professions. Amongst them was a well-known Polish
author,[41] who, upon his arrival here, only three years ago, set to
work upon an historical novel to lighten the leaden hours of exile. But
it must be more than disheartening to realise that your work, however
good it may be, will never reach the printer's hands. In six months the
book was thrown aside in disgust, and in less than a year afterwards the
writer's mind had become so unhinged by the maddening monotony of life,
that he would, in civilisation, have been placed under restraint. I met
also a once famous professor of anatomy (who had been here for seven
years), and who, although completely indifferent to the latest
discoveries of surgical science, displayed an eager interest as to what
was going on at the Paris music-halls. Indeed, I can safely state that,
with three exceptions, there was not a perfectly sane man or woman
amongst all the exiles I saw here.

[Footnote 41: I was requested to suppress the name.]

"A couple of years usually makes them shaky," said an official, "and the
strongest-minded generally become childish when they have been here for
five or six."

"But why is it?" I asked.

My friend walked to the window and pointed to the mournful street, the
dismal hovels, and frozen river darkening in the dusk.

"That," he said, "and the awful silence. Day after day, year after year,
not a sound. I have stood in that street at mid-day and heard a watch
tick in my pocket. Think of it, Mr. de Windt. I myself arrived here only
a few months ago, but even I shall soon have to get away for a change,
or----" and he tapped his forehead significantly.

The insanity which I found so prevalent amongst the exiles here is no
doubt largely due to physical privation. When a man is banished for
political reasons to Siberia, his property is confiscated to the
uttermost farthing by the Russian Government, which provides a fixed
monthly allowance for his maintenance in exile. At Sredni-Kolymsk it is
nineteen roubles a month