NORTH-WEST MONGOLIA AND CHINESE DZUNGARIA. 393 
Itinerary of the Evpedition on the N.W. Mongolian Plateau. 
The Kemchik River is a left tributary of the Upper Yenisei, joining the 
Ulu Kem just above the gorge, through which it flows to the lowlands ot 
Siberia. The vailey of the Kemchik was visited by the expedition during 
July 1910. Starting from Dja Kul, a frontier trading post (1880 feet) on the 
Ulu Kem River, the route lay westwards along the Kemchik for 50 miles. 
Here the mountain mass cf the Kizil Taiga was visited, after which the 
Kemehik valley was crossed south-west to the Tannu-ola mountains, 
The plains of the valley bottom on the Kemchik were covered with Plateau- 
desert association. On alluvial soil were found Caragana spinosa, Urtica 
dioicu, Elymus dasystachys. Оп northern slopes and in sheltered hollows, 
patches of the Larch-forest association were to be seen, accompanied by 
Potentilla bifurca and Aconitum barbatum. 
The mountain mass of the Kizil Taiga, which lay in the centre of the 
drainage area of the Kemchik, was surrounded by plateau-desert flora up to 
about 4000 feet. At this point Larch forest commenced in shady places and 
continued nearly up to the summit. Pinus sibirica was found in conjunction 
with Larig sibirica. The former slightly predominated on rocky ground, 
and the latter in those aspects more open and exposed to the sun. Natural 
regeneration of both these species was going on, but the Larch appeared to 
be badly affected by summer frosts. About the forest-line there was a con- 
siderable area covered with dead logs of Larch trees, larger than any growing 
at present below this line. It seemed that the forest at one time extended 
much higher up the mountain than at the present. The flora of the barren 
mountain tops (6500 feet) contains a mixture of both Alpine meadow and 
Larch-forest association apparently in competition with one another. The 
Lareh-forest association was represented by Potentilla bifurca, Spirea 
Vaccinium uliginosum, Aconitum sp., and Veratrum nigrum. The Alpine 
association was represented by Betula nana, Gentiana prostrata, and Dryas 
octopetala. There was a considerable amount also of Poa and Fescue grasses 
mixed in with these floras. In fact it seemed that two floral associations 
distinctly joined on the summit of the Kizil Taiga. 
Leaving the Yenisei basin by a right tributary of the Kemchik, the 
expedition crossed the Tannu-ola mountains into the plateau which drains 
into Lake Ubsa. The Tannu-ola mountains form а watershed between the 
inland drainage of North-West Mongolia and the Arctic drainage of Siberia. 
In its western end it presents a solid range of rolling downs and is crossed 
by several passes. The Bovashay Pass, crossed by the expedition at 6854 feet, 
was covered with forests of stunted Larch and Siberian Pine scattered about 
in open order, with much dead timber. Pinus sibirica was, in the main, 
dominant, with floral representatives from the Larch-forest association 
and a few Alpine meadow types. On a peak overlooking the Bovashay 
Pass, reindeer-moss, Sphagnum, Vaccinium uliginosum, Potentilla bifurca, and 
