VLADIVOSTOCK

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1514, 7 March 1901, Page 64

VLADIVOSTOCK

A RUSSIAN OUTPOST. 1: / Probably few spots in the world of equal fertility have (I. C. Hannah writes in. “Travel”) been so neglected by the human race as the densely wooded district of northern Manchuria. During the thirteenth century a few thousand Tartar fugitives, driven from their comfortable homes in China by the irrestible hordes of Kublai Khan, entered the country from the south, and, gradually -recruiting their, ’Strength, in, its remote

valleys, formed new race,, one of the most hardy and warlike in Asia. It was these people —the famous M a nchus —who gave their name to Manchuria, though they never penetrated to the north very far beyond ivrin. During the seventeenth century, bursting out from, their fastnesses and breaking through the Great Wall, the Manchus conquered the whole of China, and, setting up a dynasty of their own, introduced a period of almost unparalleled prosperity and splendour. Their house still Dears rule over the Celestial Empire, but

‘lts fortunes are in a most shattered state. Thus Manchuria (like Mongolia in earlier days) was added to the Chinese Empire by conquest, not because the Chinese conquered the Manchjus 4 but ; because the Manchus conquered the Chinese. Large numbers of the Chinese found their way into the magnificent territory thus thrown open to their enterprise, but they penetrated very little into the northern districts, which remained a land of virgin forests, swarming with wild animals and game.

~ This was all changed; when, after the second Anglo-Cumese war, the Russians, taking advantage of the disorganised condition of China, seized the whole of

Maritime Manchuria, bringing their own Siberian frontier down ,t° Corea and .shutting out Chinese Manchuria from iffie sea, except on the Gulf of Pechili.

Near the southern end of the new province is a- magnificent inlet of the sea, formerly known as Victoria Bay, but rechristened by its new owners Peter the Great Bay, and on its shores the Russians have built their great Pacific stronghold, Viadivostock, or “The Dominion of the East,’” the terminus of the Siberian railway. It was in the summer of 1898 that the present writer visited the place, travelling thither by a Japanese steamer with about a dozen

other passengers, representing almost as many different nationalities. Warm sunshine and clear blue seas day after day rendered the voyage a delightful one, while the scenery round the coasts of Japan and Corea was certainly all that could possibly have been wished. Rocky shores, with frequent villages, backed by granite mountains, wooded in places almost to their summits, and blue is-land-strewn waters dotted with the white or brown sails of innumerable junks axe the usual features of the coasts of Japan. The eastern shore of. Corea is wilder, and its roeky mountains, rising almost without foothills from the sea, are very sparsely wooded, while, owing to the great desire all Co reams have to live inland, seaside villages are few and f a r between.

Peter the Great Bay is many miles in extent : its smooth waters are diversified

by numerous islands, and its indented shores consist of low hills covered with forests. On one of the peninsulas jutting into it stands Viadivostock, and historical associations alone are wanted to make the site almost equal to that of Athens or Naples. The harbour would be almost an ideal one were it not for the ice in winter, and the constant mists in summer, which, however, are heavy drawbacks. It was difficult to believe in the almost tropical heat of June that the whole place was ever frozen up, but being on the east coast of a continent Viadivostock-is exposed to the full force of the Arctic currents in winter. The winding channel, which leads among islands and promontories into the sheltered bay which forms the harbour, is, needless to say, guarded by a bristling array of forts, but both English and Japanese war vessels have succeeded in passing right up into the inner port during fogs, unnoticed by the military authorities—feats which are said to have "reatly lessened the confidence of the Russians in the impregnability of the stronghold, and which have -certainly led to the most stringent regulations as to the number of foreign ships of war which may anchor off Viadivostock at the same tune. As our own vessel glided up to her moorings (in the absence of fogs) a little incident occurred, which was in the highest degree gratifying to the English and Americans we had on board. On@ of the passengers was a French professor, and a Russian official came off to meet him. The official bowed and began talking Russian; the Frenchman also bowed and began speaking French They both shook iffieir Heads, and then the official said, fepeakey English r” The Frenchman at once brightened up and said “Yes, sir,” and the conversation (about the great merits of each otheUs countries) was continued in the most execrable English.

Banding has to be effected in Chinese sampans. The water is almost viscous with jellyfish, who do not seem to be in the least inconvenienced by the shipping. The pier is of the most primitive type. The town extends right across the end of the peninsula, but the best streets are built facing the harbour. The site is very hilly, but the woods in the immediate neighbourhood have been somewhat recklessly destroyed, and stepping ashore —as in so many Eastern ports—is apt to be a disenchantment. The streets are straight and broad, but untidy, and the whole place has a vary unfinished look, almost as many houses being in process of erection as are completed. The sidewalks are neatly paved with wood, but the roads are badly kept and there are not very many carriages. Some streets have a decidedly European look, and Russian soldiers are very much in evidence, but the Chinese are more numerous than any other nationality, all the manual work being done by them, and most of the trade being in their hands. In point of numbers the Russians come next, after them the Japanese. Except the Russians, there are not many Europeans in the place, though the Germans are sufficiently numerous to maintain a little Butheran chapel. •

The town does not contain any very striking buildings. Long lines of red

barracks are very conspicuous; the ordinary houses are of brick, plaster, or wood, and of comonplace European design/ There is a large church in the usual Russian style, with six octagonal cupolas. The Museum —a substantial building near the gateway, erected to commemorate the CesarevitclTs visit — contains a most interesting collection of Siberian antiquities, mostly bone and stone implements, idols, weapons, etc., besides a few models of sledges and boats. All the labels being in Russian only, it is rather difficult for a foreigner to make things out very exactly But bv far the most interesting thing about Viadivostock is the famous railway, which it is hoped will one day make it possible to travel from the Baltic to the Pacific in something well under a fortnight, the distance being very much greater than the total length of our own projected Cape to Cairo line. The station is a brick and stone building, standing close to the harbour, and bearing the date at which the Asiatic end of the line was begun—lß9l. The engines are American, turned out at the Baldwin works, in Philadelphia, and arranged to burn. wood. The carriages are painted different colours, according to classes — first, dark blue; second, yellow; third, green. Their inside arrangements are extremely comfortable, the backs of the soft-cushioned seats bending up to form beds, and racks being provided above them for clothes. Against the windows are little card-tables, which also form steps to the beds. Having only a few days at Vladivostock, I contented myself with going about 30 miles up the line. No one in the whole place could speak English or French, and I knew no Russian, except one word, which I never could pronounce correctly. Consequently, my only hope of taking a ticket was to copy out the name of the station to which I proposed travelling from the time-table and handing it in at the office. The line is single, and the rails are merely spiked to the sleepers without chairs- The track runs from the harbour across the peninsula, and then along the shore on the other side towards the interior. The gradients are extremely steep, though much of the line is either in cuttings or on embankments. In many places a second engine is required, and the train laboriously climbs hills lik;e a hearse, then rushes down them like a fire-engine, causing a sensation to the passengers which recalls one’s experience at sea when the vessel is pitching violently. The first 20 miles or so are close to the sea-shore, the line being for some distance within- 200 yards or 300 yards of high-water mark. The country is hilly, and covered with forests. The trees, on the whole, are very English-1 coking—oaks, alders, ashes, hazels,, willows, birches, limes, and so on. Very few of them are "well grown. In some valleys the larger trees are all dead, and stand l up like naked, white skeletons above the rest, giving a very weird and curious look to the woods. I could not ascertain the cause. The land seemed extremely fertile, ferns, spiroca, and long grass form a tangled undergrowth, while brightcoloured wild flowers are fairly numerous, a lovely purple iris being conspicuous among them. The soil cut through.

is mostly clay, sand, or rotten rock (I only noticed a single blast-hole), of which a considerable part is a. conglomerate, largely composed of round pebbles. The course is very winding, and the country, with constantly changing views over timbered hills and an islanddotted sea, is extremely pleasant. We passed a few brick-kilns, and some very imperfect coal, rather like peat, lying close to the surface. Horizontal shafts, shored up with timber, are driven into the bill-side in order to mine it, and in one place the railway cutting is dug through it. A few cottages are passed, and some tolerable roads have been out through the forest, but the country is very thinly peopled, almost the only inhabitants being the navvies employed on the line, both Russian and Chinese. I had expected to find my destination, quite a fair-sized vilage at least, as it was printed in elaborate capitals in the time-table, but on arrival I discovered it to consist of one railway station, one water-tower, one engine - bouse, one wooden cottage, two log cabins, and eight graves among the forests. There was no train back the same evening (though I thought I had found cut a most convenient one), so there was nothing for it but to spend the night where I was. It was very pleasant in the cool night air to stroll through the fragrant woods, watching the lights of lumber-trains through the trees,. and studying the stars in the clear atmosphere. In the station I found a bench to rest on, though, as the _ room was full of rough Russian peasants, it seemed hardly safe to go to sleep. As a matter of fact, however, I received nothing but the utmost courtesy at their hands. v Soon after five the next morning I got a train back to Viadivostock, and went on board tbe steamer (which I made my home during her stay in port) in time for breakfast. One of the first persons I met was a fellow-passenger, who announced his intention of spending the night on shore, but who had come on board again late at night after he had made an inspection of the accommodation provided by the hotels. Viadivostock is at present rapidly increasing in population, but it is probable that the St. Petersburg Government attaches less importance to it now than it formerly did, as its position as the terminus of the railway is likely : to be usurped by tbe recently acquired Port Arthur, an ice-free port on the Gulf of Pechili, to which a branch is being laid down with all possible speed. In spite of the fertility of the district round Viadivostock, the city is still dependent on Japan for almost all its supplies, and its exports are confined to salt fish and timber in very small quantities. There seems no very immediate prospect of the immense natural resources of this part of the Russian Empire being developed, and, in fact, the enterprise and intense desire for progress which form the chief charm of a young British or American city" seem to be conspicuous by their absence in this outpost of Muscovite civilisation in the East.