3G SIBKRIA. 



in tlio rc'^Mon ol' tlir l<i(ii lulls an' xalk-R-il hen* and tlicro seams of coal and iron ores. De- 

 posits ol" oxfudlcnl |/ra[diit(' arc found njion one (tf the offsets of the Sayan range, and lapis 

 lazuli has l)rcn discovered alon^' tin' rivT Sliudianka, also in thai rej/inn. Kaslern Siberia, 

 however, is ridiest ai' all in iJiM l)(•arin^' sands, situated not only on ibe slopo of tb<' 

 Kiizneisl<i Altai and u|i(ui the spurs of the Sayan range, but to a yet greater degree upon the 

 extensive aiea hitweeu the Angara and the Podkaniennaia Tnngiizka. 



I'lastern Siberia is watered as alHindanily as Western. The great river Yenissei, con- 

 sisting like the Obi of two almost (Mjiial branches, the Yenissei propr-r and the Angara, has 

 a Icngtli of 3,H00 versts, if the I'lukem be reckoned as its beginning; and of 4,800 versts, if 

 its hi'ail waters be taken as the Cpper Angara or th(! Selenga. The wai watershed of this 

 river covers an area of 54,00() s(iuart.' geographical miles. 



As a water way, the Yenissei has the same inconveniences as the Ubi; it intersects 

 the great Siberian tract at right angles, flows northwards, almost without swerving, and falls 

 into the inhospitable Jvara Sea, ice-bound the greater part of the year. However, the expe- 

 rience of the last twenty years has shown that the mouth of the Yenissei is more accessible 

 to communication by sea, than that of the (Jbi, and that for the most part ships penetrating in 

 late auiimiii into the Kara Sea through the narrow straits dividing the two islands of Nova 

 Zembla, the so-called Matochkin Sliar, or through the Kara Gates, cannot only reach the 

 Yenissei bay without encountering any obstacle, but having unloaded and reloaded at the 

 wharf, constructed near the entrance to the frith previously to the closing of the navigation, 

 may I'etuni to Europe. 



'ihe Angara and Yenissei mingle their waters precisely as do the Obi and Irtysch, 

 but the curve ioimed by them is not thrust so far to the north, passes through localities less 

 desert in their character, and with the existing hydrographic communication between the Obi 

 and Yenissei by means of the Ket ami ]\oss. the Angara might serve as an excellent water 

 way to iJaikal and Transbaikalia, were it nut intersected by a whole series of cataracts and 

 falls, which are however now being gradually cleared away. Besides the Angara both the 

 tributaries of the Yenissei falling Into that river below the Angara, the Podkaraennaia and 

 Lower Tunguzka, are navigable, flowing however through regions almost absolutely deserted. 



'J'he great expanse of Eastern Siberia may be subdivided into three tracts or zones 

 ililfering very much from each other. The first and most southeni of them is that which 

 is called the cultivated or agricultural, but which properly corresponds to the two regions of 

 Western Siberia characterized above, namely, the Altai mining and low-lying agricultural, as 

 the foothills of the Sayan range audits offshoots occupy the whole cultivated zone of Eastern 

 Siberia, and as it is impossible to draw a definite boundary between the agricultural and 

 the mining zones of Sayan. The cultivated agricultural zone is composed accordingly of the 

 four southern districts of the Y^enissei government, namely, Minussinsk, Achinsk, Krasnoyarsk 

 and Kansk, and all the districts of the government of Irkutsk, but Kerensk. This zone of 

 Eastern Siberia so defined, includes an area of J0,500 square geographical miles, but as the 

 greater half of this area, partly on account of its high absolute altitude, partly on account of 

 its mounlainous and rocky couditiou, stouy or swampy soil, is entirely unsuited for agricultural 

 purposes; the whole zone hardly counts above 5,000 square geogi'aphical miles for colonization. 



