Show P r ou T h 1 J arl J TRIP do down n tho the amur river seemed hazardous enough A whon when contemplated from the security of ones study stories of river pirates and bandith were rife friends recommended reliable lir firearms earnis and eternal vigilance in care of ray my passport the one as aa a protection against robbery and the other to prevent ending my days in a siberian convict mine writes C A hibbard in tho the chicago daily news in reality the trip N was as so sate safe as to make all warnings wain ings ridiculous everywhere comfort was the first consideration french cuisines cui sines steam heated on palatial rh ri er boats excellent hotels and obsequious servants are arc not exactly what one expects from a bandit ridden country had the recommendations been for heavy clothing and a winter overcoat they would have been much more to the point northern siberia is cold even in august a temperature of 50 degrees at noon is not in tn common makes its own commerce the amur is the mississippi of siberia it makes its own commerce since the fertile plain through which it runs supplies the basis of tho the trade which it transports for a distance of perhaps 1 miles tho the river is navigable and is plied almost dally daily by government and private steamers of luxurious passenger accommodation and with a great carrying trade entering siberia at vladivostok my first objective point was inas on the amur for some hours the train traversed the famous trans siberian berlan Si route and then at shot oft off to the north independently i i say shot off inadvertently there was nothing so hasty as that about it whether it was a professed milk train or not I 1 dont know but it bore all possible resemblance to an arkansas express after the seventh stop made at abe seventh log cabin on en route one begins to rejoice that siberia is so ij populated tho first half hour unfolds all the wonders of the country count ry from the car soil which it represented the country Is still virgin cold and all but implacable but for the strong virile people who bo have the patience to woo her she has smiles and gracious rewards beyond measure for him who has the stamina to withstand cold lee ice and solitude this imperial lady of the snows spreads it a cloth of gold and empties her horn born of plenty more wonderful than the exhibition are arc the dairy products one meets with in tho the restaurants here milk Is cream and cream of nectar for the gods butter Is a confection dad and the eggs more to bo be coveted than those of the tabled fabled goose solitude of th tho amur tho the amur is not unlike all great rivers it winds and twists and doubles upon itself in a manner that Is discouragingly common while the scenery is mostly flat and uninteresting but in solitude isolation and the primeval glory of the forests the river trip surpasses even the railroad journey at night as the boat electric 1 1 4 7 I 1 k n 4 1 2 41 it ar VR tt A 8 4 k 11 24 4 W 10 ne 1 I 1 aa 6 X P ze 5 ax X M A A CATCH aj window it is an unchanging panorama of village forest and flat fiat meadow land with now and then an isolated log cabin surrounded by a field of waving grain when ones nearest neighbor is miles away fences are superfluous and fences there are nono done but it if the scene Is wearying vear ying to thu the eye the impression of latent fertility is stupendous with time and population everything t ing seems possible Is the leading city of the amur district in commemoration of the tercentenary or of the reign of the imperial house of romanoff an exhibition of amur products is ie in ili progress there it is about buch an exhibition as one would expect after three centuries at 01 lule iule two hours buff suffices Ices tor for the thole exposition thousands almost miu milons ions ons of rubles have be been en spent in builte grounds and 1 exhibits exhibit ond and yet the afternoon lifter noon I 1 w was there rtula no I 1 t v visitors is on all the grounds r VI ile it nay may be tho the way of a all I 1 al 61 rove nn ancla anlu ir ing example j Tt atine itie Ine h one finds erl 11 i lighted steam propelled and spouting great clouds of sparks from her funnel makes her way down stream it is a piece of twentieth century intruded on a pristine background one imagines that he hears the flutter of countless startled wings as the raucous whistle penetrates and re echoes through the forests and the searchlight playing on the banks to find a landing place transforms the slender white trunks of the birch trees into so many ghosts the arrival of the boat is heralded in tho the villages along our route by the tolling of the church bell the whole community cornea comes down to the river side there are the men jn in the ubiquitous high boots and gayly embroidered shirts barefooted women in cheap print wrappers of gaudy reds and blues and children in garments of uncertain origin and as many colors as josephs coat each and every one is loaded down with ith bottles of delicious siberian milk which they dispose of to the passengers geis at prices ridiculously cheap somewhat after the citizens and with a superior dignity comes an old sow BOW i two with a platoon of anxious offs offa ng aborigines which bear a on ful ul physical resemblance to our ow indians and which one learns are arc cand gil yaks in strange flat bottomed native craft crowd about the steamer with berries for sale it is the same thing the next lay day and next but nath the completion rot the journey one finds that the wild silent solitude hns has insinuated itself into ones very soul the traveler leaves the steamer at the city of alko aith a sense of regret it la is as though one had come out from futol the cool shaded alks of a monastery antol a busy noly nol Y thoroughfare As stevenson has haa said of another river it lies lias quieted a man 0 n liko like saying ills his aro are like all aou lettel 01 0 81 W |