Page:Siberia and the Exile System Vol 2.djvu/335



ADVENTURES IN EASTERN SIBERIA

HE Sávenski mine was the last one that we visited in Eastern Siberia. Monday afternoon, November 23d, we drove to the Nérchinski Zavód, or Nérchinsk Works, a large village about ten miles from Górni Zerentúi, and Tuesday morning we set out on our return journey to the Shílka River and the town of Nérchinsk, distant about two hundred

miles. It is not necessary to describe in detail our long, tedious, and exhausting ride. The country through which we passed was a dreary desert of low, rolling mountains, thinly covered with snow; the thermometer ranged constantly from zero to twenty-seven degrees below; the roads