THE AMOUK-LITTOKAL BORDER LAND, 57 



ern Siberia, amoimtiiig to only 13°.5, yet the cereals, notwithstanding the constantly frozen 

 soil in some places of this country at a depth of Vh arshine, ripen well, thanks to the 

 more powerful action of the sun's rays, depending not only on the southerly situation of the 

 Transbaikal but also on the cloudless and transparent atmosphere, as compared with the culti- 

 vated regions of Eastern and Western Siberia. 



In reference to the amount of rainfall, the climate of Transbaikalia is also incompar- 

 ably more continental than that of the agricultural zone of Eastern and Western Siberia. 

 Tbe quantity of moisture precipitated here in the course of the whole year does not exceed 

 290 millimetres, instead of the 360 and 380 of the agricultural zones of Eastern and Western 

 Siberia, while the winters are almost entirely snowless, with 13 millimetres during the whole 

 season. Eortunately, the summer rainfall, as much as 200 millimetrus, is considerably higher 

 not only than that in Eastern but than that in Western Siberia, and the conjunction of these 

 conditions explains the I'act that the Transbaikal country may even to-day be considered 

 the chief granary of the whole Amour-Littoral region. 



The vegetable covering of Transbaikalia reflects all the minutest features of its cli- 

 matic peculiarities: In that half of the country which is situated between the north-west 

 slope of the Yablonovoi range and the Baikal Lake, the flora still bears completely the char- 

 acter of the mountain flora of the extremity of the Altai-Sayan system. Among shrubs 

 this flora includes rhododendra (rododendron chrysanthum Pall, et dahuricum Pall.), the 

 Siberian berberry (berberis sibirica Pall.), species of meadow-sweet (spiraea trilobata L., alpina 

 Pall, digitata W.), clothing the mountain steeps with their snow-white flowers, a species of 

 tamarisk (myricaria davurica Ehr.), species of currant (ribes fragrans Pall., et procumbens 

 Pall.). Alpine herbs, exclusively peculiar to the Altai-Sayan system grow in profusion in the 

 Transbaikal; but on crossing to the other side of the Yablonovoi range the flora becomes greatly 

 changed, and plants appear belonging to the far east of the temperate zone of the Asiatic 

 continent. Thus, of the woody races, trees are here to be met with belonging to those general- 

 ly thriving in Siberia from the very Ural, the oak (quercus mongolica Fisch.), the elm (ulmus 

 campestris L. var. pumila L.), the hazel (corylus heterophylla Fisch.) and the wild apple 

 (pyi'us baccata L.). 



It is remarkable that but few of the shrubs flrst appearing beyond Lake Paikal, as 

 for example the daur blackthorn (rhamnus davurica Pall.), of the leguminosae lespedeza 

 juncea Pers., one species of meadow-sweet (spiraea angustifolia Turcz.), one species of cur- 

 rant (ribes diacantha Pall.), the daur snow-ball tree (viburnum davuricum Pall.), a small 

 shrub belonging to the spurge family (geblcra suifruticosa Fisch.), and one of the low grow- 

 ing birches (betula fruticosa Pall.) belong to the Amour flora. The rest are peculiar to the 

 so-called daur flora and common to the Transbaikal and the neighbouring Mongolia. 

 There are two kinds of traveller's joy (clematis davurica Pall, et atragene macropetala 

 Led.), one blackthorn (rhamnus eiythro-xylon Pall.), among the leguminosae (lespedeza 

 trichocarpa Pors. et hedysaruin IVuticosum L.), auiong the rosaccae, the local wild almond 

 (amygdalus pedunculata Pall.), tln' wild apricot, widely spread on the mountain sides (prunus 

 sibirica L.), a species of dog-rose (rosa al|»iua L.). a gattentree (cotoneaster acutifolia 

 Lindl.), tli(^ shruliby pulcutilUi glabra L., a species of tamarisk (myiicaria lougifolia Ehr.), 



