—Mr. George Kennan, who has traveled much in Siberia, in a recent lecture before the American Geographical Society, describes that country as divided into three belts, of which the northern is a broad stretch of treeless and mossy steppes, or plains, upon a frozen soil; the middle, a range of unbroken forest; and the southern, a mild and fertile region, warmer than England in winter, and in summer not colder than Minnesota. It is to the southern belt, which is largely peopled by Cossacks and their hardy descendants, that the exiles are sent. Siberia now has more than 5,000,000 inhabitants, comprising representatives of more than 30 different tribes and nationalities, and these are divided into a nomadic and a settled population. Malefactors were first exiled to Siberia in the middle of the 17th century. In the 18th century the mineral and agricultural resources of the country began to be developed, and to meet the demand for labor, exile gradually became the punishment for a large class of crimes. “Jews were exiled for refusing to pay taxes, peasants for cutting timber without permission, and army officers for minor offenses. Many of the cruel severities have been ameliorated. Flogging with the knout is abolished, fetters and chains have almost disappeared, and labor in the mines has generally been restricted to capital offenders.” Of 160,000 persons exiled in 20 years, from 1827 to 1847, only 443 were banished for political offenses, and two-thirds of these were nobles. About 12,000 persons are exiled annually. They are not sent to a bleak waste, but to the fertile zone, and generally to a milder climate than they leave. Mr. K. said that for himself he should prefer exile for life with his family in the province of Transbaikalia, to five years in the Sing Sing prison. Speaking of the Jeannette, he said he had little hope of the safety of Lieut. Chipp’s boat; and as De Long, when last heard from, had entered the most desolate region of the country, and had but two days’ food for his party, it seemed improbable that he could long survive. But Mr. K. thinks Arctic exploration is something better than fool-hardy adventure, and cites as proof the Spitzbergen whale-fishery, and the more accurate knowledge of the physics of the globe, which, facilitated by Arctic research, has contributed to the increased extent and security of the commerce of the world.