CHAPTER XVII.
WHEN the conversation about Siberia was resumed, Frank suggested that there must be a great many people in that country who were descended from exiles, since it had been for a long time a place of banishment, and the exiles were accompanied in many cases by their families.
"Your supposition is correct," said Mr. Hegeman; "the descendants of exiles are probably more numerous to-day than are the exiles themselves. Eastern Siberia is mainly peopled by them, and Western Siberia very largely so. All serfs exiled to Siberia under the system prevailing before the emancipation became free peasants, and could not be restored to their former condition of servitude.
"Many descendants of exiles have become wealthy through commerce or gold-mining, and occupy positions which they never could have obtained in European Russia. When I visited Irkutsk I made the acquaintance of a merchant whose fortune ran somewhere in the millions. He had a large house, with a whole retinue of servants, and lived very expensively. He was the son of an exiled serf, and made his fortune in the tea-trade.
"Many prominent merchants and gold-miners were mentioned as examples of the prosperity of the second and third generations from exiles. Of those who had made their own fortunes in the country the instances were by no means few. One, an old man, who was said to have a large fortune and a charming family of well-educated children, was pointed out as an illustration of the benefits of exile. Forty years before that time he was sent to Siberia by his master out of the merest caprice. In Siberia he obtained fortune and social position. Had he remained in Europe he would probably have continued a simple peasant, and reared his children in ignorance.
