To  a  question  which  I  asked  the  Governor  respecting
the  origin  of  punishment  of  offenders  by  exile,  he  made
answer  :

"  I  do  not  know  exactly  when  the  practice  begun,  but
a  well-known  writer,  M.  Keclus,  says  the  first  degree  of
banishment  was  promulgated  by  Boris  Godunoff  when,  in
1591,  he  sent  nearly  five  hundred  of  the  Uglitch  insur-
rectionists into  exile,  locating  them  not  far  from  Tieu-
men. This  story,  however,  is  more  traditional  than  his-
torical, though  it  may  be  true.  But  it  is  an  established
fact  that  near  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century  several
thousand   of   Little  Russians,  who  had   revolted  in  the


EXILE  LIFE  IN  SIBERIA.  267

[Jkarine  and  were  overcome  by  Great  Eussia,  were  sent,
in  chains,  to  various  parts  of  Siberia.  After  this,  trans-
portation for  all  manner  of  serious  offenses  became  com-
mon. A  large  number  of  religious  dissenters,  with  their
families,  were  deported  in  1682,  and  compelled  to  settle
in  the  Baikal  district.  Peter  the  Great  also  banished
many  of  the  Strelitz,  a  tribe  from  southern  Russia,  who
were  so  wedded  to  bows  and  arrows  that  they  refused  to
use  any  other  arms.  They  caused  no  little  trouble  by
their  treachery,  and  finally  rebelled  against  their  sov-
ereign. During  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  many  distin-
guished persons,  accused  of  political  unfaithfulness,  were
sent  to  the  far  eastern  provinces,  among  whom  were
Tolstoi,  Munich,  Meuchikoff,  Dolgornki,  Biron,  &c.,
who  were  afterward  permitted  to  return.  In  1758  began
the  first  deportation  of  Poles,  but  under  Catharine  II.
thousands  of  these  unhappy  people  were  thrust  into  exile.
Nine  hundred,  who  had  served  under  Napoleon,  were
convicted  of  treason  and  sent  to  the  Yakoutsk  district.
