Feb. 28, 1859.] IN THE ALA-TU AND AC-TU MOUNTAINS. 143 



At length, after much, toil, we stood on the summit, having been 

 two hours and forty minutes in making the ascent. What a savage 

 and desolate scene was now before us ! To the south, the crest of the 

 mountain rose up riven into lofty crags — enormous rocks were lying 

 at their base, tumbled about and forming a fearful ruin, extending 

 from the brink of the gorge several miles to the westward. To the 

 east were similar confused masses, and the ridge terminated in a 

 lofty peak. The view to the northward was over the vast steppe, 

 but no signs of men or animals were visible. It was a dreary soli- 

 tude over which the last rays of the sun were fading away. From 

 this point the chasm turned slightly toward the east for about 500 

 yards, and then it ran in a northerly direction till lost to my view. 

 • After carefully examining the precipices along the whole of our 

 two days' march and during the last ascent, I became fully convinced 

 that this gorge had been formed at once, by a great and terrible 

 earthquake, which rent the mountain asunder, and let out the water 

 of the lake, and this had formed the great water-course across the 

 plain. 



Proceeding in a north-westerly direction, and leaving the gorge 

 considerably to our right, we soon gained a grassy turf, among which 

 were growing numerous flowers, some of great beauty, particularly 

 a deep crimson variety, which was trailing its delicate branches 

 along the grass. In little more than an hour we attained a very- 

 abrupt part of the mountain, from which we looked down on the 

 last low ridge. This appeared about three miles across, and at a 

 short distance beyond we saw the fire of our companions blazing 

 brightly. From this place the descent was steep, but we proceeded 

 at a good speed, as night was rapidly advancing, and shortly after- 

 wards I was sitting comfortably at our camp, not sorry at having^ 

 safely concluded an adventurous day's journey of sixteen hours. 



T.W.A. 



The President. — ^I am glad, gentlemen, that you have cordially returned 

 thanks to Mr. Atkinson, of whom I may say that he is the only Englishman 

 who has ever approached that great region, a portion of which he has described 

 to-night ; I may add, that no Russian, except a few Cossacks, certainly no 

 naturalist and no competent geographer, has ever been over the larger part of 

 these wild tracts of Mongolia and Central Asia. He might well say that 

 geologists must wish to visit these scenes ; and, certainly, after many parts of 

 his description, I deeply regret that I am becoming too old to follow his footsteps. 



The point to which he calls your attention towards the close of his paper is 

 the remarkable outlet of a large body of water, due as he supposes to an earth- 

 quake which caused a rent in the mountains. At what period, he does not 

 attempt to define ; he leaves it to future geologists to examine into the nature 

 of the rocks, and determine if they can the character of the rocks and glaciers 

 at the upper end of this deep valley, and to say at what period this rent took 

 place. 



