The man who loved Siberia

Fritz Drries set out on his first trip to Eastern Siberia in 1877, when there were still blank spaces on maps of the world. Travelling alone or with his brothers, he climbed mountains, traversed great rivers, explored remote islands and crossed treacherous lakes of ice, always with one purpose: to augment man’s knowledge of the natural world. Bears, tigers, vipers, bandits, stormy seas, frostbite, ice chasms fathoms deep – every danger was faced head on and overcome. And yet he remained defenceless against the charms of the landscape, and the animals, birds and butterflies he found there. Through his 22 years in Siberia, Drries collected a wealth of essential material for scientific institutions, fundamental to our understanding of fauna and flora. This account of his adventures, set down for his daughters in his ninetieth year, is his second great legacy.