20 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY. 



arrested only by extreme cold ; elsewhere it is propagated 

 with incredible activity. In the government of Kasan 

 reign forests of oaks exclusively ; in those of Irkoutsk and 

 Tobolsk forests of mixeJ species. On the north the coni- 

 ferse predominate ; to the south, the lime, ash, and maple. 

 The banks of the Irtisch, the Barnaol, and the Alei are 

 covered with vast forests of firs. 



' Let us advance towards the Altai' chain, let us pene- 

 trate into the range of the Sai'lougueme, and we shall see 

 the forests re-appear more vigorous than those of Siberia. 

 The slopes of Atbachi are furnished with magnificent 

 masses of pines and larches, whilst rhododendrons, dwarf 

 birches, and wild currant?, carpet the depths of its valleys. 

 In the neighbourhood of Lake Kara-Kol, upon the borders 

 of Samadjir, this latter kind is united to the fir. Between 

 Ouspenka and the Tome, a forest of black poplars skirts 

 the hills, which become lower as they approach this river. 

 From the Alei to the banks of the Irtisch stretch vast 

 forests which have not yet been explored. If we re-ascend 

 now those which extend into the government of Yenisei, 

 between the chains of Tazkil and Sayan sk, new kinds 

 appear in the forest masses, and give them an aspect more 

 or less monotonous ; these are evergreen birches, whose 

 foliage is intermingled with that of the white birch and 

 service-trees, which take rank among the firs. 



' When we leave the banks of the Yenesei, and follow 

 the route which leads from Minousink to Touba, we find 

 an uninterrupted succession of woods and forests. The 

 former are composed of agreeable groups of birches, 

 poplars, and willows. The forests less smiling were for- 

 merly overrun by the indigenous tribes and their herds of 

 reindeer. In the present day it is with incredible diffi- 

 culty that the traveller can pass through the forest bounds 

 which divide the country with steppes. Some unfold 

 uninterrupted lines of coniferse, pines, and firs these 

 receive in the country the name of black forests ; the 

 others, called white forests, set up, like so many tall masts, 

 Jong files of white birches, 



