mass. TliiMT arc. l)osid(>s. several groups ot rather liigli inountain.s, for instance the 

 Aradansk niouiitains lo the west, on the Yenisei, tiie Usinsk mountains, the Artool 

 mountains, etc, generally attaining lo about 2500 m. aboyc sea-hvcl. On the contrary, 

 the mountain masses are characterized by their wild formations, with pointed sunnnils, 

 lofty pillars of stone and steep precipices. In some places, however, there are flat high- 

 plateaus covered with immense blocks of stone. 



Fi". 20. From the S;iyaiisk luounhiins near Ust Alj;i;u-, at the end of Jnly lia4. 



To the west, they are. accordingly, connected up with the Altai, and to the east with 

 the Baikal mountains, thus forming a continuous mountain barrier, having been able to 

 confine — in point of culture — the portions of Mongolia lying to the south, from 

 Siberia. The Sayansk mountains may thus be said to form the boundary between Sibe- 

 rian and Mongolian scenery. 



The Sayansk mountains are not a solitary and continuous mountain range, being 

 interrupted or divided by small valleys and ramifications running in every direction, 

 so as to make a mountain mass, filling up the greater part of the Urjankai country, 

 especially its northern and eastern portions. These ramifications are separated from 

 each other by deep valleys with steep sides, running up to towards 2700 m., and, accord- 

 ingly, making the land .still more impassable. But the uninhabited, swampy and pathless 

 areas of virgin forest with masses of fallen timber, covering everywhere the subalpine 

 mountain regions, are perhaps the chief factors in making these tracts of land so difficult 

 of access to man. 



37 



