iàÉiiS
ill!
52 R U S S IA N C EN TR A L A S IA .
population alone of the province, to say nothing of the
Kirghese; but it so happens that whilst in Akmolinsk
and Semipolatinsk there are only two uyezds that
supply more than the computed requirements of the
population, there are in the neighbouring governments
of Tobolsk and Tomsk only two uyezds that supply
less. In Akmolinsk and Semipolatinsk, as elsewhere
in the Empire, the Crown provides storehouses of corn
for the nomads, and as a preventive against famine,
there being in 1879 in Akmolinsk 91 storehouses, with
27,946 quarters; and in Semipolatinsk 69 storehouses,
with 6,232 quarters of grain, rye, oats, wheat, etc.
Besides the cultivation of cereals, and potatoes,
mention may be made of tobacco, ot which in 1880
there were in the province 1,192 plantations, covering
an aggregate of 11,515 acres. The manufacture of
tobacco in Western Siberia, in 1879, amounted to 313
cwt., of snuff to 3 i cwt., and of cigarettes to the number
of 6,503,000. The province, as might be anticipated,
is rich in domestic animals. To every hundred of the
settled population there are 155— viz., 41 horses, 46
horned cattle, 62 sheep, 4 pigs, and 2 goats ; whilst to
every hundred of the Kirghese there are 694— namely,
208 horses, 57 horned cattle, 28 camels, 372 sheep, and
28 goats. Throughout the province in 1880 there was
a total of 2,525,917 domestic animals.
Animals. Settled.
To every
hundred of
population. .
Nomads.
To every
hundred of
population. ‘
Horses 48,051 41 703,261 208
Homed Cattle . S3 .6 1 0 46 194.595 57
Camels 148 O’ l 95,957 28
Common Sheep . 68,616 59 1,258,200
Oo
to
Fine-woolled ditto 3.345 2*8 77 0*02
P ig s . . . . . 3 .782 3*2 —
Goats 2,384 1 93.891 28
179.936 r55 2,345,981 ■ 694
7H E S T E P P E A N D TH E P R O V IN C E O F A KM O L IN S K . 53
Turning now to the Russian population, in 1880 we
find in the province 13,653 births {of which 131 were
illegitimate) and 9,043 deaths, leaving an increase of
4,613. The medical staff numbers 47, but this includes
doctors’ assistants, called feldshers, veterinary surgeons,
and midwives.*
All the towns of the government, except Omsk and
Kokchetovsk, are on the banks of the I shim. Akmolinsk,
situated 1,004 feet above the sea, and not far
from the source of the river, has a population of
6,000. This is the market town for the nomads of
the district, and the capital of the province. Akmolinsk
, is not the residence of the Russian governor,
however, whom I met at Omsk, and from whom I
learned that the inhabitants of the capital are chiefly
Kirghese. To the west, at the distance of 150 miles,
is Atbasar, having less than a thousand inhabitants. It
was formerly a Cossack stanitsa, or village, dominating
the surrounding nomads, but has now become the
dwelling-place of agriculturists and merchants. About
120 miles north, of Atbasar is Kokchetovsk, with a
thousand inhabitants, and at about the same distance
further down the I shim, on the road from Orenburg,
is Petropavlovsk, with 12,000 inhabitants. This is
the most populous town in the valley of the I shim.
Situated above picturesque rocks, on which are thé
ruins of a fortress, 100 feet above the river, it commands
a fine view of the Steppe, over which the
nomads come in crowds to procure commodities and
* Thus : Province doctor, i ; uyezd doctors, 5 ; town doctor, i ;
Cossack doctors, 5 ; veterinary surgeons, 2 ; feldshers (or under-doctors)
for the uyezds, 5 ; for towns, 3 ; for Cossacks, 15 ; for Kirghese, 1 ;
veterinary feldsher, 1 ; trained midwives for. the uyezd, 5 ; for the town,
3. Among the diseases occurring in 1880 are mentioned 760 cases of
syphilis, 645 of small-pox, and 516 of typhus; whilst of epizootics, the
plague fell upon 1,543 cattle, of which number 912 died.