12 ASIA 



Towards the west, the foot-hills and terraces along 

 the Urals rise comparatively quickly, and the vegetation 

 at once assumes a more varied aspect, including pines 

 and firs, larches and spruces, luxuriant meadows and 

 other hill-pastures. 



Eastern Siberia. The country between the Ob-Yenis- 

 sei divide and the Lena is fairl} r uniform. It is a low- 

 plateau, above which tower tabular volcanic heights. 

 East of the Lena, however, the plateau rises gradually 

 amid a somewhat broken landscape towards the crescent- 

 shaped edge of the Stanovoi. 



Compared with western Siberia, the eastern region 

 is well drained, and possesses a drier and more ex- 

 treme climate : indeed, the coldest winters and the 

 hottest summers known on earth are to be found there, 

 the range between the averages of the two seasons 

 being 120° F. 



The tundra, which covers the broad margin of the 

 Arctic Ocean, sends spurs farther south, along tin- mosl 

 important ridges, similar to the fjelds of Scandinavia : 

 but the formation of swamps and peat-bogs is limited 

 here by reason of the extreme climate, the scanty 

 rainfall, and the good drainage, and thus the vegetation 

 is essentially one of forests of conifers. 



Beech and oak could not live here, so the different 

 species of conifers share the ground among themselves. 

 The Scots and the arolla pine prefer the dry, sunny slopes 

 and the lighter soils. The larch forms, on the cooler 

 slopes and in the hollows, a light cover, which favours 

 the development of a dense, often impenetrable, under- 

 growth of shrubs and herbs. The spruce occurs mainly 

 in moist situations, where it forms a dark, heavy canopy, 

 under which the ground remains almost plantless, 

 covered with a thick mat of needles and mosses. 



