THE KIREI OF THE ALTAI 371 



flocks and herds. The country is pecuUar, for it is 

 formed entirely of miniature hills and dales — remnants of 

 old moraines. At this season it presented a somewhat 

 melancholy appearance; there was no pasture, and the 

 lakes were lifeless, showing barren shores of black stones 

 with neither reeds nor rushes to enliven the dead brown 

 of the landscape. But the islands dotting the lakes 

 were partially covered with forest, and in spring or 

 early summer the view would be entrancing. 



Beyond the lakes, rose suddenly in a long even ridge, 

 the walls of the main chain of the Altai. We noticed a 

 considerable belt of larch forest, with the snow extending 

 as far down as the top of the tree-limit, which must here 

 have been about 8,000 ft. No peaks of any special 

 beauty or height rose above the even and slightly indented 

 ridge; on the whole, this panorama of the Altai was 

 disappointing, and we considered the range misnamed 

 " Great." The actual height of this range, — which 

 we will rename the " Mongolian Altai," in distinction 

 from the Russian Altai, — seems to average, according 

 to Prof. Sapoznikoff, about 10,000 ft. There is only 

 one summit which reaches an altitude of 13,120 ft. 

 in the entire length of 700 miles, — between the Russian 

 frontier and where the ranges sink away into desert. 

 At the point, however, where the Mongolian Altai breaks 

 away from the Russian Altai there is a group of live high 

 peaks, one of which reaches an altitude of 14,760 ft. 

 With the exception of these summits the "Great" Altai 

 is in reality a rather inconspicuous and narrow range. 



Altitude, however, is not everything ; the Altai 

 in September under fresh snow presented a feature of 

 remarkable beauty, its unbroken wall — for there is 

 only one feasible pass over many hundreds of miles — 



