Chekhov on the “island of the outcasts” - on Sakhalin. "This is the first Russian writer to travel to Siberia and back"
The book “Sakhalin Island” was written by Chekhov in 1891-1893 during his trip to the island in mid-1890. In addition to the author's personal observations, the content travel notes Other information was also included in the form of eyewitness accounts and factual data. Also, according to experts, the creation of the book was strongly influenced by the work of F.M. Dostoevsky "Notes from the House of the Dead".
The main goal that the writer pursued on his journey was to study the lifestyle of “convicts and exiles.” On Sakhalin, Chekhov was engaged in the census of the population, thanks to which he was able to become closely acquainted with local life and the living conditions of prisoners. At the end of the trip, the writer collected a whole “chest” of different stories and facts. When the book was written, Chekhov each time refused to publish individual chapters; he wanted the world to see the entire book. However, in 1892, the author nevertheless agreed to the publication of one chapter in a scientific and literary collection. The book was published in its entirety in 1895.
The story is based on the fate of a convict, whose life has turned into a real hell. Throughout all the chapters there is a description of the life and customs of the settlers, their hard physical labor. The author focuses on the living conditions of people - the state of prisons, hospitals, educational institutions.
The main plot load falls on the chapter “Egor’s Story”. It tells about the fate of a man who, like most other convicts, found himself in a difficult life situation, the only way out of which was to commit a criminal act.
The book had a great influence on the fate of the island, and in particular on the lives of its settlers. Thanks to truthful descriptions of the difficult life of the exiles, government authorities drew attention to their situation and sent their representatives there to clarify the situation and subsequently resolve it.
Read the retelling
The work entitled "Sakhalin Island" was written by such a famous writer as Anton Pavlovich Chekhov. He wrote this work after he visited Sakhalin Island. Before going there in 1890, the writer was dissuaded by absolutely all the people with whom he came into contact, from acquaintances and colleagues to close friends and relatives. The book was written in the form of simple essays that described the ordinary life and life of those people who lived there. Without any authorial embellishment, he described the deplorable state of the hospitals, schools and prisons there. With this work he was able to raise public awareness and draw people's attention to a truly serious problem.
During his visit, Anton Pavlovich was busy writing down the stories of ordinary people that he heard among them, who, by terrible will, found themselves in those truly unbearable and terrible conditions. Some people were so unlucky that they ended up there not for some bad deeds and harm to people, but simply because the authorities of that time could not simply do otherwise. This can best be seen, understood and felt only in the chapter entitled “Egorka’s Stories”. In this chapter, the author describes the difficult life story of one of the convicts, which he hears literally first-hand.
Anton Pavlovich is trying to convey to the whole world how life flows on this small piece of the world, isolated from the normal rest of the world, how people not only live here, but actually survive, how they raise and raise their own children, try to run a household, and how it seems At first glance, they live an ordinary, but completely different life. In this place, time literally froze and there are still very ancient remnants of the past, such as those that existed under serfdom, corporal punishment for offenses, forced bald shaving.
After the book was written, the public finally paid attention to such important problems, thereby Anton Pavlovich Chekhov rendered a great service to all residents of Sakhalin. The information was able to reach the highest echelon of power, thanks to this, all those tortured and tired of such life Sakhalin residents were heard and now a large number of things will change in their way of life. The people of Sakhalin were very grateful to the author and therefore they consider this book one of the main assets of their culture.
Picture or drawing Sakhalin Island
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“Sakhalin Island” was written by Chekhov in the form of travel notes in the scientific and journalistic genre.
In the summer of 1890, the writer arrived in the half-abandoned city of Nikolaevsk with its sleepy and drunken inhabitants, living from bread to water and engaged in smuggling. It even seemed to Chekhov that he was not in one of the cities of the Russian Empire, but in the American state of Texas.
There wasn’t even a hotel in the city and Chekhov had to spend two nights on the ship, but when he set off on the return journey, the traveler with his suitcases found himself on the pier without any shelter.
On the next steamship "Baikal" we headed for Sakhalin Island, which was previously mistakenly considered a peninsula. When Chekhov left the cabin on deck early in the morning, he saw a mix of sleeping third class passengers, soldiers, guards and prisoners, frozen and covered with morning dew.
Along the way, Chekhov managed to visit the family of a naval officer living on the top of a mountain and engaged in marking the fairway. Chekhov was struck by hordes of mosquitoes that could easily eat a person alive.
When Chekhov arrived on Sakhalin, in the city of Aleksandrovsk, it seemed to him that he was in hell: the Sakhalin taiga was burning all around.
The writer settled into an apartment with a local doctor, from whom he learned many Sakhalin secrets. Soon Chekhov was introduced to the Governor-General of the Corfu region, who came to inspect prisons and settlements and found the conditions of convicts quite tolerable, although this was not true.
Having received permission to freely visit all settlers (except political ones), Chekhov began a census. He walked around many huts, which sometimes did not even have furniture (sometimes there was only one feather bed on the floor), and met many bright personalities.
The writer visited the Aleksandrovskaya, Duyskaya, Voevodskaya prisons with their horrific unsanitary conditions, cold and dampness. The convicts slept on bare bunks, ate meagerly, walked in rags, worked backbreakingly in clearing forests, building, and draining swamps.
After analyzing the climate in the Alexander District, Chekhov came to the conclusion that summer and spring here are like in Finland, autumn is like in St. Petersburg, and the winter months are even harsher than in northern Arkhangelsk. It often snowed in July and residents had to wrap themselves in fur coats and sheepskin coats. The writer called this weather bleak.
The writer was also interested in the indigenous inhabitants of the north of Sakhalin - the Gilyaks. They lived in yurts, practically did not wash, and abused alcohol. Women were treated with contempt and considered inferior beings. But in general, they behaved quite peacefully towards others.
In September, Chekhov left northern Sakhalin to get acquainted with the southern part of the island, shaped like a fish tail. In his memory, the north remained like a gloomy little world, like a terrible ominous dream.
Chekhov was no longer so enthusiastic about exploring the southern settlements of Sakhalin Island, as he was tired of the north.
The indigenous population here were the Aino, which means “man”. They were distinguished by excellent spiritual qualities, but the appearance of the elderly women was striking in its ugliness. The effect was aggravated by blue paint on the lips. To Chekhov they sometimes seemed like real witches. They did not recognize Russian bread, but they could not live without rice. The Aino kept bears in log cages near their homes, which they ate in winter.
If formerly Sakhalin owned by two states - Russia and Japan, then in 1875 the island became part of the Russian Empire. Japan received the Kuril Islands in return.
When a convoy of female convicts arrived on the island, instead of going to prison, they were immediately assigned to be cohabitants with the male settlers. They looked at everyone: young and old, beautiful and ugly. Old women, as well as young women, who were considered infertile on the mainland, for some reason gave birth very well on Sakhalin.
In prisons, card games flourished among prisoners and they were more reminiscent of “gambling houses” than correctional institutions. Prisoners were severely punished for their offenses with rods or whips. The writer witnessed how convict Prokhorov was given 90 lashes, having previously been tied to a bench by his hands and feet.
Out of despair and unbearable conditions of detention, people attempted to escape, which rarely ended in success: impenetrable taiga, dampness, midges, wild animals served as reliable guards.
Chekhov analyzed church registers over a ten-year period and came to the conclusion that the most insidious and deadly disease on Sakhalin was consumption, followed by death from pneumonia.
The book shocked Russian society and caused such a public outcry that the government was forced to respond by reforming the legislation on the maintenance of convicts. I think this is what every writer wants deep down - not only to inform and influence minds, but also to contribute to real changes in life.
Summary Chekhov's travel notes about Sakhalin provided by Marina Korovina.
In 1890, Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, already a famous writer, traveled across the country to the island of Sakhalin - to the place where convicts and exiles were kept. Chekhov planned his trip to Sakhalin and return by ship around Asia to Odessa as a single trip to the East. But the main goal was Sakhalin. Having learned about his plan, his family, friends and acquaintances tried to dissuade him, but Chekhov was adamant.
Chekhov (in a light jacket) with family and friends on the eve of a trip to Sakhalin
Chekhov traveled with a “correspondent’s ticket” for Novoye Vremya, but at his own expense. The publisher Alexei Sergeevich Suvorin, who was a close friend of Chekhov, provided a substantial loan, and the writer promised to send travel essays to pay off the debt. The expenses would be considerable. The ticket alone for the Volunteer Fleet ship cost about 500 rubles. From a letter to Suvorin: “So, that means, my dear, I’m leaving on Wednesday or, at most, Thursday. Goodbye until December. Happy stay. I feel as if I’m going to war, although I don’t see any dangers ahead, except for toothache, which I will certainly have along the way. Since, speaking of documents, I am armed only with a passport and nothing else, unpleasant clashes with the authorities are possible, but this is a temporary problem. If they don’t show me something, then I’ll just write in my book that they didn’t show me and that’s it, and I won’t worry. In case of drowning or something like that, keep in mind that everything I have and may have in the future belongs to my sister; she will pay my debts.”
Chekhov on the eve of departure for Sakhalin
The writer prepared thoroughly for his journey. The list of literature that he studied before the trip included 65 titles. Shortly before leaving, Chekhov wrote to Suvorin: “I am going with complete confidence that my trip will not make a valuable contribution to either literature or science: there is not enough knowledge, time, or claims for this. I have no Humboldtian or even Kennanian plans. I want to write at least 100-200 pages and with this I want to pay a little to my medicine, before which, as you know, I am a pig.”
On April 21, 1890, Chekhov set off from Moscow from the Yaroslavl station on a journey that took almost three months.
Nikolaevsk-on-Amur. - Steamship "Baikal". – Cape Pronge and the entrance to the Liman. – Sakhalin Peninsula. - La Perouse, Broughton, Krusenstern and Nevelskoy. – Japanese researchers. - Cape Jaore. - Tatar coast. - De-Kastri.
On July 5, 1890, I arrived by ship in the city of Nikolaevsk, one of the easternmost points of our fatherland. The Amur is very wide here, there are only 27 miles left to the sea; the place is majestic and beautiful, but the memories of the past of this region, the stories of companions about the fierce winter and no less fierce local customs, the proximity of hard labor and the very sight of an abandoned, dying city completely take away the desire to admire the landscape.
Nikolaevsk was founded not so long ago, in 1850, by the famous Gennady Nevelsky, and this is perhaps the only bright place in the history of the city. In the fifties and sixties, when culture was being planted along the Amur, not sparing soldiers, prisoners and migrants, officials who ruled the region had their stay in Nikolaevsk, many Russian and foreign adventurers came here, settlers settled, seduced by the extraordinary abundance of fish and animals, and, apparently, the city was not alien to human interests, since there was even a case that one visiting scientist found it necessary and possible to give a public lecture here at the club. Now, almost half of the houses have been abandoned by their owners, dilapidated, and dark frameless windows look at you like the eye sockets of a skull. The inhabitants lead a sleepy, drunken life and generally live from hand to mouth, which is what God sent them to do. They make a living by supplying fish to Sakhalin, gold predation, exploitation of foreigners, and selling show-offs, that is, deer antlers, from which the Chinese prepare stimulant pills. On the way from Khabarovka to Nikolaevsk I had to meet quite a few smugglers; here they do not hide their profession. One of them, showing me golden sand and a couple of show-offs, told me with pride: “And my father was a smuggler!” The exploitation of foreigners, in addition to the usual soldering, fooling, etc., is sometimes expressed in an original form. Thus, the Nikolaev merchant Ivanov, now deceased, traveled to Sakhalin every summer and took tribute there from the Gilyaks, and tortured and hanged faulty payers.
There is no hotel in the city. At a public meeting I was allowed to rest after dinner in a hall with a low ceiling - here in the winter, they say, balls are given; When I asked where I could spend the night, they just shrugged their shoulders. There was nothing to do, I had to spend two nights on the ship; when he went back to Khabarovka, I found myself broke like a crayfish: where will I go? My luggage is on the pier; I walk along the shore and don’t know what to do with myself. Just opposite the city, two or three miles from the shore, there is the steamship “Baikal”, on which I will go to the Tatar Strait, but they say that it will leave in four or five days, not earlier, although the retreat flag is already flying on its mast . Is it possible to go to Baikal? But it’s awkward: they probably won’t let me in, they’ll say it’s too early. The wind blew, Cupid frowned and became agitated like the sea. It's getting sad. I go to the meeting, have lunch there for a long time and listen to how at the next table they talk about gold, about show-offs, about a magician who came to Nikolaevsk, about some Japanese who pulls his teeth not with forceps, but simply with his fingers. If you listen carefully and for a long time, then, my God, how far life here is from Russia! Starting with the chum salmon balyk, which is used to snack on vodka here, and ending with the conversations, you can feel something unique, not Russian, in everything. While I was sailing along the Amur, I had a feeling as if I was not in Russia, but somewhere in Patagonia or Texas; not to mention the original, non-Russian nature, it always seemed to me that the structure of our Russian life is completely alien to the native Amur people, that Pushkin and Gogol are incomprehensible here and therefore are not needed, our history is boring and we, visitors from Russia, seem to be foreigners. In terms of religion and politics, I noticed complete indifference here. The priests whom I saw on the Amur eat meat during Lent, and, by the way, they told me about one of them, in a white silk caftan, that he was engaged in gold predation, competing with his spiritual children. If you want to make an Amur citizen feel bored and yawn, then talk to him about politics, about the Russian government, about Russian art. And morality here is somehow special, not ours. Chivalrous treatment of a woman is elevated almost to a cult and at the same time it is not considered reprehensible to give up your wife for money to a friend; or even better: on the one hand, there is the absence of class prejudices - here even with the exile they behave as if they were an equal, and on the other hand, it is not a sin to shoot a Chinese tramp in the forest like a dog, or even to secretly hunt humpbacks.
But I will continue about myself. Not finding shelter, I decided to go to Baikal in the evening. But here is a new problem: there is a considerable swell, and the Gilyak boatmen do not agree to carry it for any money. Again I walk along the shore and don’t know what to do with myself. Meanwhile, the sun is already setting, and the waves on the Amur are darkening. On this and on the other bank, Gilyak dogs howl furiously. And why did I come here? - I ask myself, and my journey seems extremely frivolous to me. And the thought that hard labor is already close, that in a few days I will land on Sakhalin soil, without having a single letter of recommendation with me, that I might be asked to go back - this thought worries me unpleasantly. But finally two Gilyaks agree to take me for a ruble, and on a boat made of three planks, I safely reach “Baikal”.
This is a steamer marine type of medium size, a merchant who seemed to me, after the Baikal and Amur steamships, quite tolerable. It makes voyages between Nikolaevsk, Vladivostok and Japanese ports, carrying mail, soldiers, prisoners, passengers and cargo, mainly government goods; under a contract concluded with the treasury, which pays him a substantial subsidy, he is obliged to visit Sakhalin several times during the summer: at the Alexander post and at the southern Korsakov post. The tariff is very high, which is probably not found anywhere else in the world. Colonization, which first of all requires freedom and ease of movement, and high tariffs - this is completely incomprehensible. The wardroom and cabins on the Baikal are cramped, but clean and furnished in a completely European style; there is a piano. The servants here are Chinese with long braids, they are called in English - fight. The cook is also Chinese, but his cuisine is Russian, although all the dishes are bitter from the spicy keri and smell of some kind of perfume, like corylopsis.
Having read about the storms and ice of the Tartar Strait, I expected to meet whalers with hoarse voices on “Baikal”, splashing tobacco chewing gum when talking, but in reality I found quite intelligent people. The commander of the steamship L., a native of the western region, sails in northern seas for more than 30 years and has gone through them far and wide. In his time he has seen many miracles, knows a lot and talks interestingly. Having circled around Kamchatka for half my life and Kuril Islands, he, perhaps with more right than Othello, could talk about “ the barren deserts, terrible abysses, inaccessible cliffs." I owe him a lot of information that was useful to me for these notes. He has three assistants: Mr. B., the nephew of the famous astronomer B., and two Swedes - Ivan Martynych and Ivan Veniaminych, kind and friendly people.
On July 8, before lunch, the Baikal weighed anchor. With us came three hundred soldiers under the command of an officer and several prisoners. One prisoner was accompanied by a five-year-old girl, his daughter, who held his shackles as he ascended the ladder. There was, by the way, one convict woman who attracted attention by the fact that her husband voluntarily followed her to hard labor. Besides me and the officer, there were several other classy passengers of both sexes and, by the way, even one baroness. Let the reader not be surprised at such an abundance of intelligent people here in the desert. Along the Amur and in the Primorsky region, the intelligentsia, with a generally small population, makes up a considerable percentage, and there is relatively more of it here than in any Russian province. There is a city on the Amur where there are 16 generals alone, military and civilian. Now there are, perhaps, even more of them.
My homeland is Sakhalin. I am extremely pleased to know that Anton Pavlovich Chekhov visited this wonderful island... Once in my youth I read Chekhov’s book about Sakhalin. Now I’m returning to this book with pleasure - I found very interesting retro photographs about Sakhalin at that time
In 1890, Chekhov made a difficult trip to Sakhalin - the “convict island”, a place of exile for prisoners. “Sensational news,” wrote the newspaper “News of the Day” on January 26, 1890. “A.P. Chekhov is taking a trip to Siberia to study the life of convicts... This is the first Russian writer to travel to Siberia and back."
Post of Douai on Sakhalin at the end of the 19th century. Photo from Chekhov's collection.
Chekhov prepared for the trip for a long time: he studied the history of the Russian prison and the colonization of the island, as well as works on history, ethnography, geography and notes from travelers.
At that time, Sakhalin was a little-studied, “interesting” place; there was not even data on the population of the island. During the three months that the trip lasted, the writer did a tremendous amount of work, including conducting a census of the island’s population and studying the life and living conditions of convicts. Sakhalin doctor N.S. Lobas noted: “With the light hand of Chekhov, both Russian and foreign researchers began to visit Sakhalin.”
The result of Chekhov's trip was the publication of the books "From Siberia" and "Sakhalin Island (From Travel Notes)", in which he described both the unbearable life of convicts and the arbitrariness of officials. “Sakhalin is a place of unbearable suffering... - the author wrote. -... We rotted millions of people in prisons, rotted in vain, without reasoning, barbarically; we drove people through the cold in shackles for tens of thousands of miles... multiplied criminals and blamed it all on the red-nosed prison guards … It’s not the caretakers who are to blame, it’s all of us.”
During a trip to Sakhalin, Chekhov met with Sonya the Golden Hand
An important result of Chekhov’s trip to Sakhalin was the census of the island’s population, most which consisted of exiled convicts and their families. Chekhov traveled from the northern tip of the island to the southern one, visiting almost all the villages. “There is not a single convict or settler on Sakhalin who does not talk to me,” he wrote.
Shackling Sophia Bluvshtein. Photo from Chekhov's collection
Among the convicts living on Sakhalin was Sofya Bluvshtein - Sonya the Golden Hand. The legendary thief, who easily transformed into aristocratic women, spoke several languages and thought through her crimes so carefully that the police could not find justice for her for a long time, was sent into exile for several thefts of jewelry worth a large amount.
On the island, Sonya made three attempts to escape, all unsuccessful, was shackled and eventually broke down. Chekhov, who met her in 1890, described the legendary swindler as follows: “This is a small, thin, already graying woman with a rumpled, old woman’s face. She has shackles on her hands; on her bunk there is only a fur coat made of gray sheepskin, which serves as her warm clothing and the bed. She walks around her cell from corner to corner, and it seems that she is constantly sniffing the air, like a mouse in a mousetrap, and her facial expression is mouselike.” At that time, Sonya was only 45 years old. 
Chekhov among family and friends before leaving for Sakhalin. A.P. Chekhov before leaving for Sakhalin. Standing: A.I.Ivanenko, I.P.Chekhov, P.E.Chekhov, A.Korneev. Sitting: M. Korneeva, M. P. Chekhov, L. S. Mizinova, M. P. Chekhova, A. P. Chekhov, E. Ya. Chekhova. Moscow.
Chekhov dreamed of illustrating his book with Sakhalin photographs, but, unfortunately, he was unable to do this. 115 years after the first edition of the book “Sakhalin Island”, Sakhalin residents published a brochure, it is possible for the first time to show most of the places and villages that Anton Pavlovich visited in 1890, as they looked in the 19th century. This publication publishes photographs by A.A. von Fricken, I.I. Pavlovsky, A. Dienes, P. Labbe - photographers of the late 19th century. Modern photographs show what Chekhov's Sakhalin looks like today. 
Not everyone was sympathetic to upcoming trip. Many considered it an “unnecessary matter” and a “wild fantasy.” A.P. Chekhov himself was aware of the difficulties of the upcoming journey, but saw his civic and literary duty in attracting public attention to Sakhalin, “a place of unbearable suffering.” According to Mikhail, the writer’s younger brother, Anton Pavlovich “prepared for the trip in the fall, winter and part of the spring.” He read a lot of books about Sakhalin and compiled an extensive bibliography. The great preparatory work of the writer is also evidenced by the fact that even before the trip, Anton Pavlovich wrote some sections of his future book. 
On April 21, 1890, A.P. Chekhov, with the ID of a correspondent for the newspaper “Novoye Vremya”, left Moscow for Sakhalin. The trip across all of Russia took almost three months and turned out to be incredibly difficult for the writer, who was already suffering from tuberculosis at that time. The entire “horse and horse journey,” as the writer called it, amounted to four and a half thousand miles. 
The Swedish steamship Atlas, washed ashore near the Aleksandrovsky post in May 1890. Photo from the 19th century. author unknown
Alexandrovsk
A.P. Chekhov arrived at the Aleksandrovsky post on Sakhalin on July 11, 1890. “There is no harbor here and the shores are dangerous, as impressively evidenced by the Swedish steamship Atlas, castaway shortly before my arrival and now lying on the shore.” It is with these lines that Anton Chekhov’s story about his stay on Sakhalin begins; it was the sight of this broken steamer that was his first impression of the island. 
To this day, at the site of the Atlas wreck, during a strong low tide, the remains of ship equipment are exposed. Photo 2009 
Duty house on the sea pier at the Aleksandrovsky post. Photo by I.I. Pavlovsky
There is a pier, but only for boats and barges. This is a large log house, several fathoms long, protruding into the sea in the shape of the letter T... At the wide end of the T there is a pretty house - the office of the pier - and right there is a tall black mast. The structure is solid, but short-lived. 
The pier at the Aleksandrovsky post, destroyed by ice. Photo by P. Labbe
During his three months and two days on the island, A.P. Chekhov worked hard, studying the life of convicts and settlers, and at the same time the life and customs of local officials. He single-handedly undertook a census of the exiled convict population, filling out about 10,000 cards. About this feat of Anton Pavlovich, the writer Mikhail Sholokhov said: “Chekhov, even being seriously ill, found strength in himself and, driven by a great love for people and a real professional writer’s curiosity, still went to Sakhalin.”
The cards, by special order of the writer, were printed in a small printing house at the local police department in the Aleksandrovsky post. 
Questionnaires for the population census of Sakhalin Island, compiled and filled out by A.P. Chekhov. For statistics, women's cards were crossed out with a red pencil.
A.P. Chekhov was also given a document that allowed him to travel throughout the island. “Identification. This was given from the head of the island of Sakhalin to the doctor Anton Pavlovich Chekhov in that he, Mr. Chekhov, is allowed to collect various statistical information and materials necessary for literary work about the organization of hard labor on the island of Sakhalin. I propose to the heads of the districts to provide Mr. Chekhov with legal assistance for this purpose when visiting prisons and settlements, and, if necessary, provide Mr. Chekhov with the opportunity to make various extracts from official documents. We certify this by signing and attaching the government seal, July 30th day, 1890, Aleksandrovsky post. The head of the island is Major General Kononovich. Ruler of the chancellery I. Vologdin. Vr. etc. clerk Andreev."
With this document, Chekhov examined the most remote prisons and settlements of the island. “I visited all the settlements, went into all the huts and spoke with everyone; I used the card system for the census, and I have already recorded about ten thousand convicts and settlers. In other words, there is not a single convict or settler on Sakhalin who would not talk to me,” wrote A.P. Chekhov to the publisher A.S. Suvorin on September 11, 1890. 
Exiled settlers of one of the villages on Sakhalin Island. Photo by P. Labbe
On Sakhalin, Chekhov was interested in literally everything: the climate, the hygienic conditions of prisons, the food and clothing of prisoners, the homes of exiles, the state of agriculture and crafts, the system of punishments to which exiles were subjected, the situation of women, the lives of children and schools, medical statistics and hospitals, meteorological stations, the life of the indigenous population and Sakhalin antiquities, the work of the Japanese consulate in the Korsakov post and much more.
Of the 65 Russian villages indicated on the map of Sakhalin in 1890, Anton Pavlovich described or mentioned 54, and personally visited 39 villages. In the conditions of the then impassable conditions and the unsettled life on the island, only such a selfless person as A.P. Chekhov could have done this.
From July 11 to September 10, A.P. Chekhov remained in northern Sakhalin, visiting the villages of the Aleksandrovsky and Tymovsky districts. He stopped at the Aleksandrovsky post (now the city of Aleksandrovsk-Sakhalinsky), visited villages located in the valley of the Duika River: Korsakovka (currently within the city), Novo-Mikhailovka (Mikhailovka), Krasny Yar (abolished in 1978).
“Having finished with the Duika Valley,” Anton Pavlovich conducted a population census in three small villages located in the Arkovo River valley. At the mouth of the Arkai (Arkovo) River, Chekhov visited the Arkovsky cordon (Arkovo-Bereg), the villages of First Arkovo (Chekhovskoye), Second Arkovo, Arkovsky Stanok and Third Arkovo (now all these villages are united into one village). The first time he went there was on the morning of July 31st.
There are two roads leading from Aleksandrovsk to the Arkovskaya Valley: one is a mountain road, along which I did not travel, and the other along the seashore; According to this latter, driving is possible only during low tide. The cloudy sky, the sea on which not a single sail was visible, and the steep clayey shore were harsh; The waves roared dully and sadly. Stunted, diseased trees looked down from the high bank. 
The coast between Aleksandrovsk and Arkovo. Photo 2009
The Arkovsky cordon is located near the Gilyak village. Previously, it had the significance of a guard post; soldiers lived in it and caught fugitives... 
Mouth of the Arkovo River. Photo by A.A. von Fricken
Between the Second and Third Arkovo there is Arkovsky Stanok, where they change horses when going to the Tymovsky district. 
Arkovsky machine. Photo by A.A. von Fricken
If a landscape artist happens to be on Sakhalin, I recommend the Arkov Valley to his attention. This place... is extremely rich in colors.... 
View of the Arkov Valley. Photo 2009
All three Arkovo belong to the poorest villages of Northern Sakhalin. There is arable land here, there are livestock, but there has never been a harvest. 
Settlement in the Arkovskaya Valley. Photo by P. Labbe 
Arkovskaya Valley in July. Photo 2009
Cape Jonquière
Just south of the Alexander post there was only one locality- “Douai, a terrible, ugly and in every way a crappy place.” On his way there, Anton Pavlovich repeatedly passed through a tunnel built by convicts in 1880–1883.
Cape Jonquière with its entire mass fell onto the coastal sandbank, and passage along it would have been completely impossible if a tunnel had not been dug. 
Cape Jonquiere. Photo 2009
They dug it without consulting an engineer, without any fuss, and as a result it turned out dark, crooked and dirty. 
Tunnel at Cape Jonquiere. Photo 2008
Immediately after leaving the tunnel, near the coastal road there is a saltworks and a cable house, from which a telegraph cable runs down the sand into the sea. 
Between the Alexander post and the Douai post in a deep narrow valley, or, in the words of A.P. Chekhov, a “cleft,” “The terrible Voivodeship prison stands alone.”
The voivodeship prison consists of three main buildings and one small one, which houses punishment cells. It was built in the seventies, and to create the area on which it now stands, it was necessary to tear down the mountainous coast in an area of 480 square meters. fathoms. 
Voivodeship prison. Photo by I.I. Pavlovsky
In the Voivodeship prison they are kept chained to wheelbarrows... Each of them is shackled in hand and leg shackles; from the middle of the hand shackles there is a long chain of 3–4 arshins, which is attached to the bottom of a small wheelbarrow. 
Wheelbarrow workers of the Voivodeship prison. Photo by I.I. Pavlovsky
All the way to Douai, the steep, steep bank presents screes, on which here and there there are black spots and stripes, ranging from an arshin to a fathom in width. This is coal. 
The coast between Cape Zhonkier and Voevodskaya Pad. Photo 2008
Post Douay
Douai post pier. Photo from 1886. author unknown
This is a post; the population calls it a port.
In the first minutes, when you enter the street, Douai gives the impression of being small ancient fortress: a flat and smooth street, like a parade ground for marching, clean white houses, a striped booth, striped posts; All that's missing to complete the impressions is a drum roll. 
The main street of Douai post. Photo by I.I. Pavlovsky
Where the short street ends, across it stands a gray wooden church, which blocks the unofficial part of the port from the viewer; here the crevice doubles in the form of the letter “Y”, sending ditches away from it to the right and left. 
Duya Church. Photo by I.I. Pavlovsky
On the left there is a settlement, which was formerly called Zhidovskaya...
A lane in the village of Due, which formerly housed the Zhidovskaya Slobodka, with houses built during the period of the Japanese concession. Photo 2009
Currently, the Dui mines are in the exclusive use of the Sakhalin private society, whose representatives live in St. Petersburg. 
Marina of the Sakhalin society and mine. Photo by I.I. Pavlovsky
Near the mine office there is a barracks for settlers working in the mines, a small old barn, somehow adapted for overnight accommodation. I was here at 5 o'clock in the morning, when the settlers were just getting up. What a stench, darkness, crush! 
Remains of the pier in the village of Due. Photo 2007 
Historical and Literary Museum "A.P. Chekhov and Sakhalin" in the city of Aleksandrovsk-Sakhalinsky, Chekhov St., 19 
Literary and Art Museum of A.P. Chekhov’s book “Sakhalin Island” in the city of Yuzhno-
Documentary photographs were provided by the Historical and Literary Museum "A.P. Chekhov and Sakhalin", the Sakhalin Regional Art Museum, the Museum of the Book of A.P. Chekhov "Sakhalin Island".
Sources.
