settlement yearly
exports large quantities of salt fish, furs, and walrus tusks.[14]

[Footnote 13: In face of these natural resources it is satisfactory to
note that a line from Irkutsk to Yakutsk could be laid with little
difficulty.]

[Footnote 14: Steam navigation on the Lena river was introduced in
1885.]

In former days before the Russians annexed the Amur river there was
regular communication between Yakutsk and Okhotsk, on the sea of that
name, but although the road, or rather track, still exists, it is now
rarely used.[15] However, American and Chinese goods do occasionally
find their way into Siberia by Okhotsk, for the latter is a free port,
and if merchandise is destined for the Lena province, it is cheaper to
send it in this way than _via_ Vladivostok and the Amur, especially as
steamers now visit the Sea of Okhotsk every summer, sailing from
Vladivostok and making the round trip _via_ Gijija, Ayan, and
Okhotsk.[16] In winter time, when the track is in good condition, the
trip from Okhotsk to Yakutsk occupies about a fortnight, with horse
sledges. In summer the goods are carried over the mountains to the head
of the Nelkan River, which is reached twice during the season by
steamers plying from Yakutsk, a journey of two weeks up stream and about
half the time down. The Nelkan district is said to be fabulously rich in
gold, so much so that Mr. Siberikoff, a prominent Siberian millionaire,
lately visited the place with a view to constructing a railway to
connect Nelkan with Ayan, on the Sea of Okhotsk, a distance of about two
hundred versts.[17] The line would be a costly one, but the country is
said to be so rich, that no expense is to be spared in opening it up.
Steamers also run from Yakutsk up to Viluisk, but the trade with this
place amounts to very little, L5000 or L6000 in all, every summer. Near
Viluisk is the Hospital for Lepers founded some years ago by the English
nurse, Miss Kate Marsden. In view of the conflicting statements which
have appeared in England regarding this institution it is only fair to
say that the lady in question is still spoken of in Yakutsk with respect
and affection, and that the infirmary, which after much suffering and
hardship she contrived to organise, is still in a flourishing condition.
In 1901 it contained more than seventy patients in charge of a
physician, his two assistants and three sisters of charity.

[Footnote 15: See projected railway route, chap. xix.]

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