0(3 SIBERIA. 



basalt are to bo met willi. At tlio contact of the crystalline with tin; siiiUui'Mi ioi-k, m Up; 

 h>ikhot(;-AIin, argontiifrous lead deposits occur, and twenty vcrsts from St. Olga Bay, rich 

 deposits of iron ores. The (!astem slope of llx' Sil<hi't<:-Alin, in its offspurs, sometimes descends 

 in sheer preci|)ices into the sea, and at others, leaves a certain space for the streams run- 

 ning along short parallel valleys to fall into tlie sea. In the neighbourhood of their moutlis 

 there are at times very convenient bays and bights, as for example, the bays of St. Olga 

 and St. Vladimir in ihi' soutliem part of the country and of Do Kastri in the northern part. 

 Upon ilie wide space dividing the Sikhctc-Alin from the course of the Ussuri, run the impor- 

 tant riiiht tributaries of this river; in the south-western corner of this country the Russian 

 possessions cross over in the Id't side df the Ussuri and I'nihrace the extensive lake Khanka. 

 The whole of this expanse includes the areas of colonization belonging to the country, which 

 are only embaiTassed by the abundance of swamps and forests ami the extraordinary humid- 

 ity of tlu! climate. 



The s(^^shorc range of the Sikhete-Alin, in spite of its slight elevation, serves how- 

 ever as an extremely important climatic line of division. The coast zone, situated upon the 

 eastern acclivity of the Sikhete-Alin, wrapped for the greater part of the year in impene- 

 trable fogs, differs extremely from the wide Ussuri zone, incomparably more continental in 

 its climate, whose more favourable climatic conditions are also extended to the seacoast 

 strip of the southward trending Bay of Peter the Great. This difference comes out most clearly 

 on comparing the climates of points placed at no great distances from each other, Vlad- 

 ivostok, situated in the depths of the Bay of Peter the Great, and the Bay of St. Olga, 

 situated 200 versts behind the cape which forms the turning point, separating the southern 

 littoral of the country from the south-eastern, upon the foggy and damp south-eastern shore. 

 The mean temperature for the year in both [xtiuts, differing in latitude by only V2*', is the 

 same, namely 4*5°, but in the Bay of St. Olga the mean winter temperature is — IC Celsius, 

 that of the coldest month —13°, the summer temperature IS*^, that of the hottest month 20°; 

 accordingly, the difference between summer and winter is 28'', that between the hottest and 

 coldest mouths 33°; while the mean winter temperature in Vladivostok is —12°, that of the 

 coldest month — 16°, the summer temperature 18°, that of the hottest month 21°; accordingly, 

 the difference between summer and winter is 30°, between the hottest and coldest months 37°, 

 so that the climate of Vladivostok is more continental than marine. In Khabarovka the mean 

 annual temperature is of course lower than in Vladivostok and in the Bay of St. Olga, it is 

 equal to 0°, but the remaining elements of the climate are favourable, notwithstanding the 

 severity of the winters. With an average winter temperature of — 22° and coldest month of 

 — 25°, the summer shews 19°, the hottest month 20°; the difference between summer and winter 

 is, 41°, and that between the hottest and coldest months 45°. As might be expected, the mean 

 temperature of the five-months vegetative period throughout the Ussuri country, in the Bay 

 of St. Olga 15°, in Vladivostok 16°, and in Khabarovka 17°, is distinctly favourable to agri- 

 culture, but the climatic discrepancy between the two points shews itself most strongly in 

 the quantity of moisture precipitated in the course of the year. In Vladivostok the annual rain 

 fall is 336 millimetres, of which 158 belong to the three summer mouths, while in the Bay of 

 St. Olga it is 1,024 millimetres, of which 452 millimetres fall to the summer months. Thus, 



