Complete Works of A.P. Chekhov, Vol. 1

carrying mail, soldiers, convicts, passengers, and cargo, mainly government goods; under a contract concluded with the treasury, which pays it a substantial subsidy, it is obliged to call at Sakhalin several times during the summer: at the Aleksandrovsky post and the southern Korsakovsky post. The tariff is very high, such as probably does not exist anywhere else in the world. Colonization, which above all requires freedom and ease of movement, and high tariffs—this is completely incomprehensible. The saloon and cabins on the Baikal are cramped, but clean and furnished in a fully European style; there is a piano. The servants here are Chinese with long queues; they are called in English: "boy." The cook is also Chinese, but his cuisine is Russian, although all the dishes are bitter from spicy curry and smell of some perfume, like coriopsis.

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Having read a great deal about the storms and ice of the Tatar Strait, I expected to meet on the Baikal whalers with hoarse voices, spitting tobacco juice while talking; in reality, however, I found people who were quite intelligent. The captain of the steamer, Mr. L., a native of the Western Krai, has been sailing in the northern seas for more than 30 years and has traversed them up and down. In his lifetime, he has seen many wonders, knows much, and tells stories in an interesting way. Having circled around Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands for half his life, he could, perhaps, with more right than Othello, speak of "barren deserts, terrible abysses, and inaccessible cliffs." I owe him much information that proved useful for these notes. He has three assistants: Mr. B., a nephew of the famous astronomer B., and two Swedes—Ivan Martynych and Ivan Veniaminych, kind and welcoming people.

On July 8, before dinner, the Baikal weighed anchor. Traveling with us were some three hundred soldiers under the command of an officer and a few convicts. One convict was accompanied by a five-year-old girl, his daughter, who, when he climbed up the gangplank, held onto his shackles. There was, among others, one female convict who attracted attention because her husband voluntarily followed her into the katorga *). Besides me and the officer, there were also several

*) On Amur steamers and the Baikal, convicts are placed on deck along with third-class passengers. Once, having gone out at daybreak for a walk on the bow, I saw how soldiers, women, children, two Chinese men, and convicts in shackles were fast asleep, pressed against each other; they were covered in dew, and it was chilly. The convoy guard stood among this pile of bodies, holding his rifle with both hands, and was also asleep.