In the 1860s, a Russian-American company sponsored a survey for a proposed telegraph line extending from Siberia and the Bering Strait to the United States and Europe. Although the mission failed, it was one of the first explorations of the Siberian wilderness -- and provided the rich material for Kennan's entertaining vignettes about the expedition. He weaves a colorful travelogue that ranges from tales of seven weeks aboard a Russian ship to accounts of a Cossack wedding and the celestial wonders of the North.