May 25, 1857.] RUSSIA. 433 



into Russian, useful standard works, including those of the cele- 

 brated Carl Eitter, and brings out catalogues of the geographical 

 maps of Russia, as well as reviews of geographical, statistical, and 

 ethnographical labours. Even the commerce of the interior comes 

 within the scope of our vigilant rivals, whose Society was founded 

 on the model of our own. 



The most extensive scientific exploration which the Society has 

 ever undertaken, is one which is still in progress, or that of Eastern 

 Siberia. Its object is to examine and determine, by astronomical 

 and trigonometrical observations, the geographical features of the 

 vast region between the Lena and the Vitima, and also of the south- 

 eastern tracts beyond the Lake Baikal. The chief astronomer, 

 M. Schwartz, has under his direction MM. Oussoltzoif and Sminia- 

 guine, and is accompanied by the artist and academician Meyer, and 

 by M. Eadde the naturalist. 



The results of the first year's labours are given in the ' Compte 

 Eendu ' of 1855, edited by M. Lamansky, and there can be no 

 doubt that geographers will soon possess not only a correct deli- 

 neation of these remote regions, but also striking and characteristic 

 sketches of the scenery of all the border frontier regions of Siberia 

 —a map of the river Amur having been already published. 

 Among the great feats of our contemporaries, I leam that MM. 

 Semenoif and Wasiljin have made known the existence of an 

 extinct volcano near Mergen, in Manchuria, which was in activity 

 in the year 1721 ; and that the mountain of Demavend has been 

 ascended by M. Khanikoff. 



In writing to me of these explorations, and of a remarkable expe- 

 dition to the Lake Issingul, my illustrious friend Humboldt thus 

 expresses himself: — ■" On the northern side of the great volcanic 

 chain of Thian-Chan, they have, it is true, discovered plutonic 

 rocks only, such as granite and gneiss, and along the edges of the great 

 bitter lake of Central Asia (Issingul) no trachytes (volcanic rocks) 

 have been seen ; but it must not be forgotten, that from the eastern 

 shore of that lake to the Yolcano Peschan (the most western of the 

 volcanos of the Thian-Chan, or Celestial Mountains) the distance, 

 in a straight line, is not less than 250 English miles." 



In reference to Eastern Siberia and those vast tracts of Central 

 Asia which lie between the defined boundaries of the Eussian and 

 Chinese Empires, let me say that the English public will soon have 

 presented to them a work containing the most vivid and remarkable 



