?4 



AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI 



then, outside the station-house, we saw long wooden 

 planks set up, on which the peasants of the neigh- 

 bouring villages had placed chickens, bread, or fish, 

 sometimes water melons, to sell. A few kopecks 

 was the utmost one could spend. I must confess 



TATION-HOUSE WE SAW LONG WOODEN I'LANKS SET UP. ' 



that melons were greatly appreciated by our party, 

 owing to the intense heat. 



We saw great numbers of ducks in the marshy 

 steppes round Kainsk ; at other places, where the 

 soil was dry, it was cultivated. The Akmolinsk and 

 Semiretchensk countries are supposed to be the 

 granaries of Siberia and Russia, where wheat is 



