Page:Siberia and the Exile System Vol 1.djvu/162

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CHAPTER VII

THE GREAT KÍRGHIS STEPPE

Omsk, which is a city of about 30,000 inhabitants, is the capital of the óblast of Akmolínsk, and the seat of government of the steppe territories.^[1] It is an administrative rather than a commercial or a manufacturing town, and its population is largely composed of officials and clerks employed in the various Government bureaus and departments. It has a few noticeable public buildings, among which are the enormous white "cadet school," the house of the governor-general, the police station,—a rather picturesque log building, surmounted by a fire-alarm tower,—and the krépast, or fortress. The streets of the city are wide and unpaved; the dwelling-houses are made generally of logs; there is the usual number of white-walled churches and cathedrals with green, blue, or golden domes; and every building that would attract a traveler's attention belongs to the Government. If I were asked to characterize Omsk in a few words, I should describe it as a city of 30,000 inhabitants, in which the largest building is a military academy and the most picturesque building a police station; in which there is neither a newspaper nor a public library, and in which one-half the population wears

↑ The larger administrative divisions of the Russian empire are of two kinds and are known as gubérnie [governments] and óblasti [territories]. As the English word "government" already has more than one meaning, I shall use "province" in this work to denote the organized political division called in Russia a gubérnia, and "territory" to designate the comparatively unorganized division known as an óblast. The distinction between them is very much like that between our states and territories.

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[1] The larger administrative divisions of the Russian empire are of two kinds and are known as gubérnie [governments] and óblasti [territories]. As the English word "government" already has more than one meaning, I shall use "province" in this work to denote the organized political division called in Russia a gubérnia, and "territory" to designate the comparatively unorganized division known as an óblast. The distinction between them is very much like that between our states and territories.