Chekhov: Sakhalin

The whole way to Dooay, screes can be seen on the steep, sheer coastline, on which here and there specks and strips glint blackly, an arshin to a sazhen in width; this is coal. The strata of coal here, according to specialists’ accounts, are squeezed between layers of sandstone, slatey clay, clayey slate and clayey sand, which have been lifted, bent, moved or pushed down by seams of basalt, diorites and porphyry which jut out in many spots in large outcrops. It must be considered beautiful after its own fashion, but prejudice against the place is so deep-seated that you regard not only the people but even the plants with pity that they grow in this particular spot of all places. Seven versts further on, the shoreline is broken by a fissure. This is the Voyevodsk Chasm; here, quite alone, stands the dreadful Voyevodsk Prison, in which are kept the hardened criminals, including those chained to wheelbarrows. Sentries patrol round the prison; apart from them not another living creature may be seen about, and it seems as if they are guarding some kind of rare treasure in the wilderness.