It may be useful, in view of the localities mentioned later on and the following 

 general survey of the character of the vegetation, to give in the sequel a brief account 

 of the travelling route of the expedition. On the annexed map (2), only to be regarded 

 as a rough and very imperfect sketch, the route is marked out by a red line. This 

 sketch has been drawn from a Russian map in all essentials based only upon the state- 

 ments of the natives. This country being mostly uninhabited and unknown, there are only 

 few geographical names to which the local designations are referable. 



The four Norwegian members of the expedition, at the begining of May 

 1914, proceeded by the Siberian railway to Krasnoyarsk, on the Yenisei, 

 and further on up the river in a ferry-boat about 500 wersts southwards, to 

 the small town of Minusinsk, where we arrived on the 29tli of May. 

 Minusinsk, the outpost of civilization in those regions, where the last post- 

 office and the last telegraph station are to be found, became the real starting- 

 point of the expedition. At that time of the year, however, it was quite impossible to 

 advance further southwards owing to the masses of snow in the Sayansk mountains, and 

 the immense areas of swamp formed during the melting-time in the subalpine virgin 

 forests in the lower ranges of those mountains, utterly prevented any attempt to pene- 

 trate into these desolate, uninhabited and pathless wooded regions. During the first 

 month, while we were waiting for the Sayansk range growing passable after the spring 

 thaw, we made an excursion into the steppes along the river Abakan, one of the 

 largest tributaries of the Yenisei in those regions. We started from Minusinsk on June 

 2iid in a couple of canoes, in which we had packed up what was needed for the journey, 

 the rest of our luggage being left behind. In order to lighten the transport, we intended 

 to stick to the rivers and undertake from these shorter and longer lateral excursions into 

 the steppes. 



According to our programme we were carried down the Yenisei as far as the 

 small village of U s t A b a k a n s k\ near the junction of the Abakan with 

 the Yenisei, from where we meant to make our way further to the south, upwards 

 along the river. Our original plan, to row up the river against the stream, had to be 

 abandoned, as the river was found to be swollen by the melting snows in the moun- 

 tains, making it nearly impossible for us to master the rapid current. To save time we 

 determined rather to have our boats and luggage driven up the large, flat steppes sur- 

 rounding the river, and then to set them afloat again at a convenient place higher up. 

 After driving in this way about 120 wersts southwards from Ust Abakansk, we set the 

 boats afloat again in the neighbourhood of the Abakan-Tartarian establishment of Askys, 

 and were from there carried back down-stream. \\^e encamped for some length of time 

 on some of the numerous islets in the river, from where excursions were made over the 

 steppes for botanical, zoological, geological, archaeological and anthropological purposes. 

 On this journey we passed the rivers K a m u i s h t o and U z u i k, tributaries of the 

 Abakan, and were, as planned, back again at Minusinsk on the 1st of July. During a short 



' usl (Russian) " mouth. 



