192 REVIEWS OF BOOKS. [July 



becomes stunted, assuming an almost horizontal habit, with the 

 branches only jutting upwards. Towards the south, where the 

 woods decrease, the juniper grows higher, but it is replaced on the 

 mountains by firs and birches. The limits of the birch tree {Betula, 

 sp. not European) are from 3200 to 8800 feet; the lower limit 

 depending upon the physiography of the valley in which it grows. 

 The specimens are small, crooked, and with broken tops, probably 

 from the snowfall. In the Kirghese Ala-Tau, the inferior limits of 

 the birch and fir nearly coincide ; whilst in the Kara-Bura moun- 

 tains, the superior limit of the birch and the tall-stemmed junipers 

 coincide with that of the sorb apple. Nineteen varieties of willow 

 are found at heights varying from 5300 feet to 8000 feet. Of five 

 kinds of poplars, that like the Eussian aspen is found along the 

 Talas ; and on the river Kara-Bura are two thickets of similar large 

 old trees, but of an intermediate form between the black poplar and 

 the aspen. The Turanta poplar {Popuhis diversifolia) grows in the 

 woods on the Arys. Two species of ash also adorn the gorges along 

 the Boroldai and its affluents. The rare shrub called Boialysh 

 (Atraphaxis) is found in the dry sandy clay lands at the mouth of 

 the above river. The insignificant Ephedra, or jointed fir, flourishes 

 in the grey parched soil of the Steppe, between the canals of the 

 river Asa. Other small prickly shrubs with reddish flowers grow 

 principally at an altitude between 4000 and 5000 feet. Neither 

 gooseberry nor currant bushes were found in the gardens of 

 Turkistan, though black and red currants are said to grow wild. 

 In Kohistan, the honeysuckle, barberry, medlar, and sea buckthorn 

 abound at a height of 8000 feet ; w^hilst in the Chirchik mountains 

 the wild plum. Pistachio nuts {Pistacia vera), and wild almonds are 

 found 4000 feet lower. In Ablatoune, Dr. Capus found the superior 

 limit of the nut and the wild apple to be about 4500 feet, with the 

 ash [Fraxinus sogdiana), and a species of maple. In the same valley 

 wild apricot trees grew up to 4000, and on the shores of the 

 Iskander-kul even to 7000 feet. In the valleys of the Syr-daria 

 grows a shrub on the thorns of which there collects a sugary 

 material called Yantak-shakar, or Faran-jobin, but no such matter 

 can be collected from the same shrub when grown on the moun- 

 tains. From this plant, after rain, manna is collected, concerning 

 which the Bokharists say that it falls early every morning during 

 the three summer months, especially near the holy city of Turkistan, 

 along the left bank of the Syr-daria, and may be collected up to 

 sunrise ; but with the first rays of the sun it becomes mixed with 

 the soil, and sinks. 



In the Takhta-Karacha Pass, between Samarkand and Kitab, Dr. 

 Landsdell came on one of the plantations mentioned by General 



