In the daily orders we also find mention of violence, insubordination, extreme impertinence toward superiors in the presence of convicts, and, finally, of prisoners' being beaten about the head with batons and sustaining serious injuries.
Save Receipts, Schedules, and Fliers
Whenever possible, collect documents, pamphlets, and announcements.
At noon, I went for a stroll around the village. As I passed into the outskirts, I came across a pretty cottage fronted by a little garden and displaying a small brass plaque above the door. Next to the cottage, sharing the same yard, was a small shop. I went in to buy food. This "Commercial Establishment" and "Commercial Supplies Warehouse"—as the humble enterprise referred to itself in the printed and handwritten pricelists that are still in my possession—belonged to the settler L, a former officer of the Guards whom twelve years earlier the St. Petersburg Regional Court had sentenced to penal servitude for murder. He had completed his sentence and now engaged in trade and in provisioning road construction projects and such. For this he received a senior supervisor's salary. His wife, a free woman and a member of the gentry, worked as a nurse in the prison hospital. The shop sold stars for adorning epaulets, Turkish delight, crosscut saws, sickles, and "ladies' summer hats in the most fashionable and latest styles from 4 rubles 50 kopecks to 12 rubles each."
One of the convicts gave me a petition entitled: "Confidential. From Our Godforsaken Hole. To the Magnanimous and Gracious Littйrateur, Mr. Ch. Whose Visit Gladdened this Unworthy Island of Sakhalin. Post of Korsakov." The following verses, entitled "Wolfbane," were included:
Most proudly, it grows on the riverbank,
Surrounded by mud in a hollow:
A pretty blue leaf midst the reedy rank
'Tis medicine's Aconite hallow.
This wolfbane plant,
From the Creator's own hand,
With its fatal appeal
Many mortals will kill,
And Abraham's bosom will fill.
Study the Climate
Analyze meteorological charts, collect opinions, report your own experiences, make comparisons among different zones; show the impact of weather on the vegetation, harvests, and temperament.
The mayor of Vladivostok once told me that "there is no such thing as a climate" of Vladivostok or any other area of the eastern seaboard. Sakhalin itself is said to have no climate, only bad weather—the worst in all of Russia—though I personally cannot vouch for the accuracy of this observation. During my sojourn, the summer weather was delightful, contrary to the unusually high precipitation the meteorological charts and various reports had led me to expect.
Winter in the Aleksandrovsk region is more severe than in Archangelsk, spring and summer is like Finland, and autumn is like St. Petersburg. The mean annual temperature is zero degrees, just as on the Solovetsky Islands.24 There is permafrost in the Duyka valley. Polyakov measured it at 21 inches deep on June 20. On July 14, he reported snow under rubbish heaps and in the hollows near the mountains, and the snow did not melt until the end of the month. On July 24, 1889, snow fell in the mountains, which are low here, and the locals put on their furs and sheepskins. Over a nine- year period, the ice on the Duyka broke on April 23 at the earliest, and on May 6 at the latest. There was not one thaw during the entire nine winters. Temperature fell below freezing 181 days of the year, with cold winds on 151 days. All of this has important practical implications. Gryaznov reports that in the Cherepovetsky district, where summers are warmer and longer, buckwheat, cucumbers, and wheat do not ripen properly, while in the Aleksandrovsk region the local agriculture inspector claims there has never been a year when the number of hot days was sufficient for the oats and wheat to ripen.
The local excessive humidity should be of great interest to agronomists and hygienists. There is precipitation on an average of 189 days per year: snow on 107 days and rain on 82 days. (In the Cherepovetsky district it rains on 81 days and snows on 82 days.) For entire weeks at a time, leaden clouds cover the sky, and the continuously dismal weather seems endless to the natives. This kind of weather leads to oppressive thoughts, despondency, and drinking. Who knows, perhaps its influence has led many cold-blooded people to brutality, and many a good-natured, weak soul has lost all hope of a better life Fogs occur frequently, especially on the sea, where they are a curse for sailors; the salty ocean fogs are said to be harmful to vegetation, the trees as
well as the grasses, all along the coast Once, on a clear
day, I saw a white wall of fog moving in from the sea; it was the color of milk, and gave the impression of a white curtain dropping from the sky.
Take a Census
When facts are unavailable, it is useful to take a census, not so much to obtain statistics, as to gain access to homes and the chance of meeting people.
I came up with the only way someone in my position could visit a great many settlements and get to know how people actually live. I undertook a census. In the settlements, I visited all the huts and took down the names of the owners, members of their families, lodgers, and workers. I received a gracious offer of help in the form of assistants who might lighten my load and save time, but since my main objective in taking the census was not the final figures but the impressions produced by the very process, I very rarely accepted help. Consequently, this work that was conducted by a single man over a period of three months can scarcely be called a census; the findings are neither precise nor comprehensive, but even so, given the paucity of substantive data in literature and in the records of the Sakhalin administrative offices, my figures may end up being useful.
Frame Questions
Do not solicit answers that already exist in written sources; formulate questions that produce clear responses; separate the answers by gender.
For the purpose of the census, I ordered index cards at the police department printing shop. The questioning followed a specific sequence. On the first line of each card, I noted the name of the post or settlement. On the second line: the house number as recorded on the prison list of households. Then, on the third line, the status of the interview subject: convict, settler, peasant formerly exiled, free person. I recorded only free persons who were either members of the exile's household through, for example, legal or common-law marriage, or were part of the family, or those who resided with the household as, for instance, laborers or lodgers. Fourth line: given name, patronymic, and surname.25. On the same line I noted the relationship of the interview subject to the master of the house: wife, son, female cohabitant,