64 ASIA 



characterizes tree-growth on the East-Siberian plateaus ; 

 on the other hand, especially on the southern slopes, they 

 are seldom dense and close: they have that scattered 

 appearance which characterizes the forests on the Rocky 

 Mountains and Sierra Nevada. The undergrowth, which 

 is mostly grassy, is far from being thick and impassable 

 as in Sakhalin. 



Scots pines, with a mingling of birches and aspen, 

 come next to the steppe vegetation on the western and 

 southern slopes. Farther up, larches predominate, but 

 often mix with, or give way to, Siberian firs and spruces. 

 Many humbler plants, with which we are familiar, occur 

 here : there is an abundance of aconites, peonies, willow- 

 herbs, geraniums, cow-parsnips, bright-flowered ground- 

 sels, &c., in the meadows and pastures that frequently 

 interrupt the clear forests. Some of the vivid flowers 

 of the steppes are found far up the wooded slopes. 

 Stone-pines form the upper tree-limit at altitudes 

 varying from 4,000 feet on the northern slopes to 

 5,000 feet on the southern slopes. They penetrate in 

 groves and clusters among the upper hill-pastures, where 

 such shrubs as rhododendrons and such flowering herbs 

 as globe-flowers, columbines, anemones, violets and gen- 

 tians, poppies and saxifrages, remind one of the Alpine 

 meadows of Europe. The pastures of the Siberian high- 

 lands, in contrast with the dry and short swards of the 

 steppes lower down, seem like hay meadows. 



Thus there seem to exist, in these highlands, two 

 aspects or landscapes gradually merging into one 

 another : the northern or Siberian, more densely wooded, 

 and connected with the Siberian taiga. This is typically 

 exhibited among the Baikal highlands: the other, the 

 Mongolian or southern aspect, may be seen characteristi- 

 cally displayed south of Baikal, in the districts of the 



