16 ASIA 



' Okhotsk Region. Beyond the edge of the east 

 Siberian plateaus, which extend almost to the eastern 

 coast-line, the land sinks rapidly down to a narrow 

 coastal shelf, and is carved into a series of parallel 

 ridges, between which run short torrential streams. 



This region naturally lies under the moderating 

 influence of the neighbouring seas, and the moist and 

 mild winds thereof ; so that the rainfall is higher here 

 than inland. At the same time, it is sheltered from 

 the cold blasts from the interior by the edge of the 

 Stanovoi. There is, in some measure, an approximation 

 to the climate of southern Alaska, and the vegetation 

 includes some of the types of plants of the American 

 continent. 



From the ice-fields and lichen moors of the edge of 

 the plateau one descends into a belt of elfin woods, 

 formed by a dwarf variety of our European stone-pine. 

 Lower down, the slopes are clad with prosperous and 

 dense forests of mixed conifers, among which American 

 species are to be found ; besides the dahurica larch there 

 occur two kinds of spruces and one of tsuga fir ; but 

 conditions are still too hard for broad-leaved trees. 

 Only birches and alders, poplars and willows, are to 

 be found along the river courses; in the undergrowth 

 the Kamchatka rhododendron forms dense bushes. 



The lower valleys and the coastal shelf, lying most of 

 the time under the belts of cold air and mists which 

 settle down from the neighbouring heights, expand into 

 dreary, quasi-arctic swamps, in the middle of which, along 

 the rivers, run ribbons of rich green pastures. 



Kamchatka. More desolate still is Kamchatka, which 

 occupies, at the eastern extremity of Eurasia, a position 

 corresponding to that of the British Isles, on the west 

 between the 50th and 60th north parallels. 



