Works of A.P. Chekhov, Vol. 10: Sakhalin Island

They also live along the western coast, in a small area up and down from the mouth of the Duika. Administratively, Northern Sakhalin is divided into two districts: Alexandrovsky and Tymovsky.

Having spent the night in De-Kastri, we set off the next day, July 10, at noon, across the Tatar Strait to the mouth of the Duika, where the Alexandrovsky Post is located. The weather was again calm and clear, which happens very rarely here. Whales swam in pairs across the perfectly smooth sea, sending up fountains, and this beautiful, original sight entertained us throughout the journey. But my mood, I confess, was not cheerful, and the closer we got to Sakhalin, the worse it became. I was uneasy. The officer accompanying the soldiers, having learned why I was going to Sakhalin, was very surprised and began to assure me that I had no right to come close to the penal servitude katorga hard labor/penal colony and colony, since I was not in the state service. Of course, I knew he was wrong, but his words still made me feel anxious, and I feared that I might encounter exactly the same view on Sakhalin.

When we were dropping anchor at eight o'clock, the Sakhalin taiga was burning in five places on the shore with large bonfires. Through the darkness and the smoke drifting over the sea, I could not see the wharf or the buildings and could only make out dim post lights, two of which were red. A terrifying picture, crudely fashioned from darkness, silhouettes of mountains, smoke, flames, and fiery sparks, seemed fantastical. In the left foreground, monstrous bonfires are burning, above them are the mountains, and from behind the mountains, a crimson glow from distant fires rises high into the sky; it seems as if the entire Sakhalin is burning. To the right, Cape Zhonkier, resembling the Crimean Ayu-Dag, juts into the sea as a dark, heavy mass; its lighthouse shines brightly on the summit, and down below, in the water, between us and the shore, stand three pointed reefs—the "Three Brothers." And everything is in smoke, as if in hell.