Hi 



SIBERIA. 



SIBERIA. 



B50 



more extensive tract of rich p tsture-land lies to the east of the Lena 

 Kiver, on both sides of the river Vilui. Many rich families of the 

 Yakutes, who inhabit thia tract, possess several hundred head of 

 cattle. The whole country east of the middle course of the river 

 Aldan, between 59 and 61 ' N. lat, is a mountain tract, extending 

 more than 200 miles east au ; west to the vicinity of the Pacific. The 

 most elevated part of it, which lies nearly in the middle, and is almost 

 100 miles wide, is more than 2400 feet above the sea-level. The 

 Toongusee, a wandering tribe of hunters, inhabit this country. At 

 the northern extremity of the Aldan Mountains (62 N. lat, and 141 

 E. long.) is a mountain knot from which two chains branch off. One 

 of them runs from this point first dns east and then north-east, 

 parallel to the shores of the sea of Okhotsk and the bay of Penginsk. 

 It ia called by the Russians Stanavoi Khrebet and covers two degrees 

 of latitude in width ; but some of its branches reach as far north as 

 67* N. lat At the source of the river Anadir (near 164 E. long.) it 

 divid-s into two branches. One of them runs first south-east, and 

 then turns south, traversing the peninsula of Kamtchatka [KAMT- 

 CHATKA] ; the other extends first towards the north, and then turns 

 eastward, in which direction it terminates at Behring's Strait in the 

 capes Vostostchinii Noss, or East Cape, and TshookoUkoi Noss. The 

 other chain which branches off from the mountain knot of the Aldan 

 range at first runs north-north-west, but turns west near 64 N. lat, 

 and continues in that direction, parallel to the lower course of the 

 river *Mn_ until it approaches the bank* of the Lena, where it turns 

 due north, and terminates near 67 N. lat Between the Lena and 

 the Kolyma the country improves considerably. It U traversed from 

 south to north by several chains of hills generally of small elevation, 

 but in many place* of considerable width. These hills are overgrown 

 with birch and larch, but the trees do not attain their full growth. 

 The greater part of this region U a level plain, without trees, but 

 interspersed with numerous lakes, which contain plenty of fish, and 

 have good pasture* on their banks where the settlements of the Yakutes 

 are. The 'albnty/ or dry lakes, which constitute a peculiar feature of 

 Northern Siberia, are still more fertile. They are wide and fiat 

 valleys, very little depressed below the general surface of the plain. 

 In spring, when the riven inundate the adjacent country, they are 

 Ailed with water, which remain* then during the summer ; but during 

 the winter the ground bants, and many narrow olefte are formed, by 

 which the water nm* off, and in the following summer the whole 

 ground ia covered with the finest turf. Then an also good pastures 

 new the decliritie* of the hills, but the remainder of the plain is 

 chiefly covered with mo** and i* swampy. Between the river Indi- 

 ghirka on the west and the Alasei on the east an several extensive 

 plains covered with moss, on which only a few larches creep along the 

 ground. Then an other wastes of considerable extent Along the 

 Polar Sea, and some distance from H, the country is a tundra, or low 



S'ain covered with mo**, of the same description a* that which occurs 

 Western Siberia. Between the Indighirka and Kolyma the surface 

 i* traversed by numerous low swells, which generally run south and 

 north, and, terminating on the sea in bluff., render the coast alter- 

 nately high and low. The scanty population of this tract subsist 

 almost entirely on the produce of their Uteri** in the numerous lake* 

 with which this country is uitenpecied. The country east of the 

 Kolyma Kiver u of a different daaeriptioii. The oftWU of the Stanovdy 

 Mountain* enis clone np to the river, forming on its banks steep bluffs 

 several hundred feet high, and the whole region is covered with 

 range* of mountains, frequently rising U * 

 In tn-y pUoesthey nadi the .-, 



to MOO or 3000 feet above the 

 , forming on the shore* several 



elevated capes, a* Cape Baraoor, Cap* Shelagskof, and North Cap*. 

 On the seaibote however there are many tract* of level ground 

 covered with moss. In the interior the valleys are rather wide, and 

 generally swampy, bat also often covered with good pasture*. The 

 ftjtsU of this region are abundantly stocked with snimnlt, among 

 which are louutlss* herds of rein-daer, elks, black bears, foxes, sables, 

 and gray squirrel*. Multitudes of ducks, gsese, and swans are taken 

 in too Kolyma. The chief supply of food U from the fisheries in the 

 rivers, which an extremely productive. The most common fish is the 

 herring; but there i* also salmon of several kinds. The country of 





f*w berry-bearing shrub*. . 

 by fishing and killing seai 

 amber five on the produce 



n portion of the Asiatic 



sueoessjun of sterile valleys and ban rocks, 

 i* limited to that kind of mos* which is the food of 

 the reindeer. In a few sheltered vallrys then an some willows which 

 attain the siae of shrub*. The climate i* extremely severe. The 

 valleys an generally swampy and full of imall lakes. There an a 

 A few families of the Tsbooktohe* subsist 

 > animal* along the coast; but the greater 

 i produce of their herds of tame reindeer, and by 

 buting those which an in a wild ateto. South of the country of the 

 Tabooktahes is the peninsula of Kamtchatka. 



We shall conclude this survey of Siberia with a few observation* on 

 the Polar Sea, which constitute* it* northern boundary. Nearly 

 opposite the middle of the coastline of Siberia, or more precisely, 

 opposite the country between the mouth* of the riven Yana and 

 In.lighirka, U a group of island*, which are called, from their <lis 

 eovTr, the Liakehoff Ishmd*. They consist of four larger and some 

 mailer islands. The larger islands are named Kotelnol, Fadeyefskoi, 

 Mew Siberia, and Liakehoff, and vary in size from 100 mile* long by 



60 miles broad, to 40 miles long by 20 miles broad. Even the sum- 

 mers on these islands are so cold that the snow does uot entirely 

 melt, and not a blade of grass grows. They consist of layers of ice, 

 alternating with layers of sand, in which au incredible number of 

 elephants' and other fossil bones are imbedded. The sea between 

 these islands and the continent does not completely freeze before the 

 last days of October, but along the coast of Siberia the ice is formed 

 much earlier in the year, and soon acquires a degree of firmness. On 

 the contrary, in spring, the ice melts much sooner along the coast, 

 which is quite free from it in the month of June, whilst in the open 

 sea it constitutes one unbroken sheet of ice up to the month of July, 

 and the quantity is hardly perceptibly diminished even towards the 

 end of the summer. It floats about in the sea in large masses, which, 

 being impelled by currents and winds, are driven against one another 

 with incredible force. These floating masses render the navigation 

 of the Polar Sea extremely dangerous, and have frustrated attempts 

 made to survey the entire coast ; the tract still unsurveyed incloses 

 the most northern cape of Siberia, called the North-East Cape, or 

 Severo Vostostchinii Noss. In endeavouring to reach the American 

 continent by Behring's Strait, some explorers have made use of 

 nartes, or sledges drawn by dogs. They generally set out in the 

 latter part of the winter, from March to the end of May, when the 

 cold is much less severe than in the earlier part of the winter. It 

 has thus been ascertained that in whiter the large body of the sea is 

 open and free from masses of ice, but this open water occurs in 

 different parts at different distances from the shore. In expeditions 

 of this kind numerous ice-hills have been met with, which sometimes 

 constitute single masses with steep declivities ; at other times they 

 form regular groups ; and frequently they form long ridges. They 

 consist of masses of ice irregularly united, but as the hollow places 

 are filled np with snow, they appear to have a regular form. They 

 vary in height from 10 to 70 feet, and are certainly of a different 

 origin from the icebergs of the Greenland Sea. Salt is found on the 

 ioe wherever it is not covered with a thick layer of snow. It is in 

 the form of small shot, and it has a somewhat bitter taste, but may 

 be used. The persons who annually visit the Liakehoff Islands, use 

 it without the least inconvenience. This sea-salt, called rassol, very 

 much retards the progress of the nartes on the ice. 



Climate. Siberia is the coldest country in the northern hemisphere, 

 if we except Greenland and the Arctic Archipelago of North America. 

 It is much colder than any part of Europe situated in the same lati- 

 tude. North Cape, in Europe, is near 71 10' N. lat. ; and Ustyansk, 

 at the mouth of the river Yana, in 70 55' N. lat The latter place 

 however is nearly 28 degrees colder, as the following table shows : 



Mean annual Mean tern. Mean tern. Mean tern. Mean tern. 



temperature, of Winter, of Spring, of Summer, of Autumn. 



North Cape . +32 +24 +30 +42 +32 



Ustyansk . . +4-39' -24-9 +27-01 +40-16 -2470 



Irkutsk is only about 45' nearer the polo than London, and yet the 

 mean annual temperature U lower than that of North Cape, being 31 ; 

 while the mean annual temperature of London exceeds 50. But 

 Irkutsk i* 1340 feet above the sea-level. This elevation however 

 would lower it* temperature only three or four degrees. The climate 

 increase* in severity as we proceed from west to east The severity 

 of the winter in Eastern Siberia is shown by the circumstance that 

 quicksilver freezes every winter in the country near Irkutsk, and in 

 Yakutsk it remains in a frozen state for two months together even in 

 mild winters, and in severe seasons for three months. In a large part 

 of Siberia the ground is frozen to a considerable depth even at tho 

 end of the summer. In Western Siberia the winter, although very 

 cold, is much less so than in the eastern districts. The summers in 

 Western Siberia are warm and sultry, chiefly in consequence of its 

 proximity to the Great Caspian Desert, which is subject in summer to 

 excessive heat We may here give the temperature of two places at a 

 considerable distance apart, namely, Bernaul and Nishnei-Kolymak, 

 of which the former may be considered one of the warmest and the 

 latter one of the coldest places in Siberia. Bernaul is in 53 20' 

 N. lat, 84 10' E. long. ; and Nishnei-Kolymsk in 68 31' N. lat, 

 160 56' E. long. Bernaul is 390 feet above the sea; Nishnei-Kolymsk 

 is almost on a level with the sea : 



Msan annual Mean tern. Mean tern. Mean tern. Mean tern. 



temperature, of Winter, of Spring, of Summer, of Autumn. 



Bernaul . . . +35'13 +6'61 +42-92 +61-82 +29-18 



Niahnei-Kolymsk +12'05 -19.03 +36'15 +44-41 -13'38 



Wrangel, who passed three years at Nishnei-Kolymsk, gives a 

 description of the climate of that place. The year is divided into two 

 sons, the winter and the summer. The river is covered with ice in 

 the beginning of September, and is not free from it before the begin- 

 ning of June. In October the cold is diminished by thick fogs and 

 the vapours which rise from the sea, which then begins to freeze. 

 The frost attains its greatest degree of severity in January, when the 

 thermometer sinks to -60. Respiration then becomes difficult, and 

 the wild reindeer, the true inhabitant of the polar regions, hides itself 

 in the thickest part* of the forests, and stands motionless. lu 

 February tho cold does not decrease much ; in March it begins to 

 decrease more ; but the cold which in these months is felt at sunrise 



