The Coldest Town In The World

Here it ruay relieve us, when the mercury has crept np into the nineties, to think of a town which Humboldt and other travelers have pronounced the coldest on the globe. This is Jakutz (or Yakootsk), chief town of the province of that name in Eastern Siberia, on the left bank of the river Lena, 62 deg. 1 min. north, longitude 119 deg. 44 min. east, and distant from St. Petersburgh 5,951 miles. The ground remains continually frozen to the depth of 300 feet, except in midsummer, when it thaws three feet at the surface. During ten days in August the thermometer marks 85 degrees, but from íTovember to February it ranges from 42 to 68 degrees below zero, and the river is solid ice for nine months out of the twelve. The entire industry of the place - population about 5,000 - is comprised in candle worka, and yet it is the principal market of Eastern Siberia for trame with the hunting tribes of the Buriats. The former mostly nomadic, having large herds of cattle and horses, bring to market butter, which is sent on horseback to the port of Okhotsk. The Buriats, also nomadic, bring quantities of skins of sables, foxes, martens, hares, squirrels and the like, and many of them are sold at the great fair in June, which, with May, is the active period of the year. In May the collected goods are conveyed to the sea ports, whence they are sent in every direction. The merchandise, chiefly furs and mammoth tusks, sold at fair amount in value to 400,000 roubles ($300,000.)