Tompkins. It was chartered as a village in 1823, but because of legal flaws the charter was revoked soon after Tompkins’s death (in 1825), and thereafter the village was gradually absorbed by New Brighton and Edgewater (both incorporated in 1866), though the locality continued to be called Tompkinsville.
TOMSK, a government of western Siberia, extending from the Chinese frontier northwards to 6° N., and bounded by the
government of Tobolsk on the N.W., by Yeniseisk on the N.E.
and E., by north-western Mongolia on the S.E. and by the province
of Semipalatinsk on the S. and W. Its area, 327,284 sq. m.,
is more than one and a half times that of France. The surface
includes in the south-east the high alpine tracts of the Altai
Mountains, and in the north-west and west the lowlands of the
Irtysh and the marshy tracts of the Ob. The Altai Mountains
or Sailughem system, which at their northern extremity join
with the Sayan Mountains, run from north-east to south-west
along the Russo-Chinese frontier, and are cleft by a deep
gorge through which flows the Yenisei (see Altai). A zone,
some 200 m. in width, of alpine tracts fringes the outer margin
of these mountains, which have a very steep slope towards the
north-west, although their south-eastern foot-hills rest on the
plateau of Kobdo (4500 to 5000 ft.). A chain having a north-western
direction—the Salair Mountains—shoots off from the
main range of the Altai, between the Tom and the Chumysh; it is
about 170 m. in length, with a width of nearly 60 m., and contains
the most productive silver-mines of the region, as also several
gold-washings. Its upheaval belongs to a more recent epoch
than that of the Sailughem range, and (like the mountains of
Turkestan, having a north-west direction) it is composed of
dioritic rocks. In the Kuznetsk depression it is overlain by
deposits of the Lower and Upper Carboniferous, containing
beds of coal. The Kuznetskiy Ala-tau, one of A. von Humboldt’s
meridional upheavals, consists of a series of ridges running
south-west to north-east.
Tomsk is drained principally by the Ob and its tributaries, but the south-east corner drains into the Abakan, a tributary of the Yenisei. The Ob, formed by the union of the Biya and Katun, has within the government a course of more than 800 m., and is navigated as far as Barnaul and Biysk. Its tributaries, the Tom (450 m.), Vasyugan (530 m.), Ket (230 m.) and Tym (200 m.), are all navigable. The Chulym and the Chumysh are also large rivers. The Bukhtarma, Om, Uba and Tara, tributaries of the Irtysh, are worthy of notice.
The climate is severe, and is, moreover, very wet in the north-west. The average yearly temperatures at Tomsk, Kainsk and Barnaul are 30·2°, 31° and 32·7° (Jan., 4°, 6·2° and 3·7°; July, 65·5°, 68·5° and 62·2°) respectively. The Altai steppes enjoy a much drier climate than the lowlands, and are clothed with beautiful vegetation; in the sheltered valleys corn is grown up to altitudes of 3400 and 4250 ft.
The population was estimated in 1906 as 2,412,700. The bulk (90%) is Russian, the remainder being Ostyaks, Mordvinians, Tatars (mostly in the Altai), Teleuts and Telenguts (Mongol tribes, chiefly in the Altai), and nomad Samoyedes, representing a mixture between the Samoyedes and the Ostyaks, and dwelling along the Ob River and its tributaries. The prevailing religion is Greek-Orthodox, but there are also some Nonconformists, Roman Catholics, Jews, Mahommedans and pagans.
Agriculture is the predominant occupation, and excellent crops are obtained in the southern portion of the government especially in the Altai. Livestock breeding is very important, and butter-making in model dairies, partly co-operative, has developed greatly, butter being exported from Tomsk to western Europe. Trade is actively carried on at Tomsk and Barnaul, the chief centres for the trade of Siberia with Russia. The Biysk merchants carry on a barter trade with Mongolia and China. The government is divided into six districts, the chief towns of which are Tomsk, Barnaul, Biysk, Kainsk, Kuznetsk and Marlinsk. (P. A. K.; J. T. Be.)
TOMSK, a town of Western Siberia, capital of the government
of the same name, on the Tom, 27 m. above its confluence with
the Ob. Pop. (1900), 63,533. Tomsk is an episcopal see and
the largest city of Siberia, exceeding even Irkutsk in population
and commercial importance. The great Siberian highway from
Tyumen to Irkutsk passes within 54 m. (by branch railway to
Taiga) of Tomsk, which is the terminus of the navigation by
steamer from the Urals to Siberia. It has, moreover, communication
by steamer with Barnaul and Biysk in the Altai. The town
is not an administrative centre, like so many Russian cities, but
an entrepot of wares. Before 1824 it was a mere village; but
after the discovery of gold in the district it grew rapidly. It is
built on two terraces on the right bank of the Tom, and is divided
into two parts by the Ushaika. The best building is the university.
The industries are almost entirely confined to tanning and the manufacture of carriages. Tomsk has a university (founded in 1888, with 600 students), and archaeological, ethnological, zoological, botanical and mineralogical museums, a technological institute, a cathedral (finished in 1900), public libraries and scientific societies, naturalist, geographical, medical, musical, &c.). The city was founded in 1604.
TOM-TOM, or Tam-Tam, a native Indian and Asiatic word, reduplicated and onomatopoeic in form, for a drum, hence often loosely applied to the various types of primitive drum used for purposes of religious excitement, war, signalling, &c. by savage tribes throughout the world. The term is applied strictly to the metal gongs of the Far East, which are flat disks with a shallow rim.
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