From Paris to New York by Land. By Harry de
Windt. (G. Newnes. 12s. 6d. net.)—Mr. de Windt had had experience before of making by land journeys which ordinary men are content to make by sea. But even then he could hardly have expected the hard- ships which he had to endure. His journey across Siberia was probably as tough a piece of work as any traveller, a few Arctic explorers possibly excepted, has ever gone through. The figures which he supplies in an appendix show this clearly enough without the details, somewhat wearisome, it must be confessed, of suffering through cold and hunger. From Paris to Moscow, and from Moscow to Irkutsk, he had the railway (5,800 miles), travelling for the last 4,000 miles at the very modest rate of id. per mile. Then the hardships began, working up to a climax in the 1,500 miles from Nijni-Kolymsk to Behring Straits. These were a000m:. plished with dogs,—the expedition started with sixty-four and arrived with nine. The animals employed in the 3,963 miles from Irkutsk to Nijni-Kolymsk were : 808 horses, 887 reindeer, and 50 dogs. It is clear that non cuieis contingit to make such a journey ; but it is not a case which moves a poor man to envy. There is much that is curious in Mr. de Windt's narrative; the most valuable part is what he has to say about the condition of the political exiles. The truth seems to lie between the two extremes, or rather both extremes are true. Some are well off ; others are in a worse condition than any other human beings. On the whole, the impression made by Russian methods and habits is not a favourable one. One of the traveller's experiences is not without a certain suggestion for ourselves. His rifles, revolvers, and ammunition were seized at the frontier, and this though he had a permit. When the fiscal reformers provide us with a similar system we also shall have to bear this kind of thing. How a nation that has grown up in almost absolute freedom in such matters will endure it is worth considering.
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