248 
and sent some few plants, collected on the Tschuja, to 
Stephens at Moscow. More recently, the Counsellor of 
State, Gebler of Barnaul, dispatched a person to collect seeds 
and plants there: still the region might be considered, to 
the Naturalist, as a ferra incognita; and on that account 
Professor Ledebour was particularly anxious to direct his 
attention to it, and to explore, as a Botanist, the southern and 
western sides. Such, however, was the nature of Ledebour's 
duties at Dorpat, that he could not be absent more than a 
year from the University. He reckoned that he could per- 
form the journey to Barnaul, in the Government of Kolivan, 
in "e winter, and return in the following: and, in order to . 
facilitate his design, Dr. Meyer and Dr. Bunge were asso- 
ciated with him, and 10,000 rubles were allotted from the 
funds of the University, to defray the travelling expenses. 
Ledebour set-out in January, 1826, from Dorpat, and 
returned in February, 1827. He reflects with pleasure on 
various events of the journey; yet, in bringing his Travels 
before the public, he warns the reader not to expect too 
much from them. * The inexhaustible interest," he says, 
excited by the perusal of travels through the north 
of Africa or south-west of Asia, where numerous monu- 
ments of times long past continually arrest the attention, 
are here wholly wanting. Equally destitute are the 
countries we have visited of those features, whether of the 
anmal or vegetable world, which throw such a charm. 
over the description of tropical climates, and render them 
Captivating to every one who possesses a cultivated mind 
and taste. Here nature, with few exceptions, only exhibits 
the general forms of the north of Europe: and when the 
Naturalist discovers what is new and peculiar to these 
 Fegions, it cannot be said to possess any very attractive 
characteristics: it neither gratifies by its beauty, nor 
Surprises by its singularity of structure. The Altaic 
Mountains, on account of their northern and eastern posi- 
tion, stand, in respect of climate, in such an unfavourable 
Contrast with the mountainous regions of the south, that, 
even from this circumstance alone, the district is beheld 
R2 
