243 



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 terra 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 one 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, 182*7. He reflects with pleasure on 

 the 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 

 animal 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 

 regions, 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 



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