TKAVELS IN ASIATIC EUSSIA. 379 



mission to cross the frontier, and visited the Mongolian station 

 of Baty or Khoni-Mailakhu, to the north of the lake of 

 Dzaisang, one of the most central towns in Asia. 



From Ust-Kamennoigorsk, the party journeyed, through the 

 central horde of Kirghissia, to Semipolatinsk and Omsk, and 

 thence to the southern part of the Ural, through the Cossack 

 lines of Ischim and Tobol. In the rich gold fields of Miask, 

 which occupy but a limited extent of ground, there had been 

 found three large nuggets of gold only a few inches below the 

 surface, two of which weighed fifteen pounds and one twenty- 

 four pounds. Various excursions were made in the neighbour- 

 hood of Miask, to the lake of Ilmen, to Slatoust and to 

 Soimonowsk. In the southern part of the Ural chain they 

 visited the beautiful quarries of green jasper near Orsk, where 

 the mountain chain is broken through from east to west by the 

 passage of the river Jaik, remarkable for an abundance of 

 fish. Here they turned westward to Ofuberlinsk, and reached 

 Orenburg on September 21 ; thence they pursued a southern 

 course to the Caspian Sea, visiting on their way the celebrated 

 mines of rock salt at Iletzkoi, in the steppe of the small horde 

 of Kirghissia, and passing by way of Urlask, the chief settle- 

 ment of the Ural Cossacks. They next visited Saratow on the 

 left bank of the Volga, where a colony of Germans had been es- 

 tablished by Government, and made an excursion to the large 

 salt lake of Elton in the plains of the Kalmucks ; thence passing 

 through the beautiful Moravian settlement of Sarepta, they 

 arrived at Astrachan. 



In visiting the Caspian Sea the chief objects of the expedition 

 were the chemical analysis of the waters, the institution of baro- 

 metric observations for comparison with those made at Orenburg, 

 Sarepta, and Kasan, together with a collection of specimens of 

 the various kinds of fish to be found in this inland sea, as a con- 

 tribution to the great work on Fish, then engaging the attention 

 of Cuvier and Valenciennes. 



On October 21, the travellers left Astrachan on their home- 

 ward journey, crossed the isthmus which separates the Don 

 from the Volga at Tischinskaya, and, after traversing the terri- 

 tory of the Don Cossacks, reached Moscow by way of Voronesch 

 and Toula, on November 3, and St. Petersburg on the 13th of 

 the same month. 



