AUTHOR'S PREFACE. xlv 



the places we visited — 500 to 600 kinds of plants 

 represented by 4,000 specimens. Our small minera- 

 logical collection contains samples of the minerals of 

 all the mountain ranges we visited. 



Such are the scientific results of our journey ; and 

 these met with warm approbation, not only from the 

 Geographical Society, but from the different men of 

 science who volunteered their services to classify 

 them. 



The academician K. T. Maximovitch kindly 

 undertook the description of the flora, which will 

 form the third volume of the present edition of our 

 travels. The second volume will comprise our spe- 

 cial studies on the climate of those parts of Inner 

 Asia that we visited, and notes on the zoology and 

 mineralogy will be contributed by A. A. Inostrant- 

 seff and K. T. Kessler, professors at the St. 

 Petersburg University; A. T. Moravitz, the ento- 

 mologist ; N. A. Severtsoff, W. K. Tachanoffsky, the 

 zoologists ; and A. A. Strauch, academician. All 

 these savants have generously assisted me in clas- 

 sifying the different kinds of animals, plants, and 

 minerals mentioned in the pages of this book. 



Lastly, I must express my earnest gratitude to 

 Colonel Stubendorff of the Staff Corps, and Colonel 

 Bolsheff of the Topographical Department, who have 

 taken a keen interest in compiling the map from my 

 route survey ; and also to Fritsche, director of the 

 Peking Observatory, who gave me hints as to the 

 astronomical and magnetic observations, and kindly 

 undertook to work these out. This first volume of 



