MANCHURIA 25 



the lower Columbia on the Canadian border. Like 

 the lower Columbia!] district, it possesses a naturally 

 fertile Boil ; and water, though absent from the surface, 

 may be found generally at a depth of a few feet. Partly 

 on account of its scanty rainfall, which does not exceed 

 20 inches yearly, it has remained a treeless steppe. It 

 possesses a few centres of aridity, which may even be 

 represented by sand-deserts, and around these vegeta- 

 tion is disposed in widening concentric beltsof increasing 

 fertility. The typical Manchurian steppe resembles the 

 buffalo-grass plains, offering a low and fairly continuous 

 level of ^\vy grasses, interspersed, however, with various 

 herbs, undershrubs, and bulbs, which flame into beautiful 

 colours in spring. It is doubtful, whether climate and 

 soil alone could account altogether for the absence of 

 trees and shrubs in this region, but apart from destruc- 

 tion by the nomads, no other reason is forthcoming. 

 There are, indeed, travellers who believe that once the 

 .Mongols cease burning the steppe and begin to plough. 

 trees will flourish everywhere, and already in the north- 

 west corner a sort of park steppe with small round trees 

 may be seen. 



Despite its extreme climate, Manchuria has attracted 

 large numbers of Chinese agricultural settlers, who are 

 endeavouring to turn the country into a rich wheat and 

 cereal land and export the crops into Russia in large 

 quantities. Hemp, opium poppy, and tobacco are also 

 grown successfully, and large portions of the plain form 

 rich agricultural districts. 



East of the Sungari the land rises, gently at first, 

 in parallel folds, towards the Sikhota Alin highlands. 

 There is no doubt that these hills were once clad with 

 timber similar to that of the Usuri basin, but, as usual, 

 deforestation has followed in the wake of the Chinese 



