354 



CROSSING THE CHINESE FRONTIER. 



CHAPTER 

 XXVUL 



Sliver mines. 



Route to the 



Cliiueee 



frontier. 



Salt mine of 

 Uetzki. 



Return to 

 .Moscow. 



Qualifica- 

 tions of 

 Ilurobuklt. 



silver-mines of Scli-Iangenl)erg,Rid(lersk, and Zyrianovski, 

 sitvmted on the south-western declivity of the Altaic 

 range, the highest summit of which is scarcely so ele- 

 vated as the Peak of Teneriffe. The mines of Kolyvan 

 produce annually upwards of 49,842 troy pounds of 

 silver. 



Proceeding south-ward from Riddersk to Oust-Kamc- 

 nogorsk, they passed through Boukhtarminsk to the 

 frontier of Chinese Zungaria. They even ohtained per- 

 mission to cross the frontier, in order to visit the Mongol 

 post of Baty, or Khonimailakhou, nortlnvard of the Lake 

 Dzaisang. After visiting the steppe of the Middle Horde 

 of the Kirghiz, and reaching tiie southern part of the Ural, 

 where the masses of gold referred to above were found, 

 they passed by Gonberlinsk to Orenburgh, which, not- 

 withstanding its distance from the Caspian Sea, is below 

 the level of the ocean, and then visited the famous salt- 

 mine of Iletzki, situated in the steppe of the Little 

 Kirghiz Horde. They afterwards inspected the principal 

 place of the Ouralsk Cossacks ; the German colonies of 

 the Saratov government on the left bank of the Volga ; 

 the great salt lake of Elton in the steppe of the Kal- 

 mucks ; a tine colony of Moravians at Sarepta ; and, 

 finally, arrived at Astracan. The principal objects of 

 this excursion to the Caspian Sea were, the chemical 

 analysis of its waters, which Mr. Rose intended to make ; 

 the observation of the barometrical heights ; and the col- 

 lection of fishes for the great work of Baron Cuvier and 

 M. Valenciennes. 



From Astracan the travellers returned to IMoscow, by 

 the isthmus which separates the Don and the Volga, 

 near Tichinskaya, and the country of the Don Cossacks. 



The knowledge acquired by Ilumlioldt in his explora- 

 tion of Central America furnished him with means of 

 comparison and analysis, such as no other traveller, or 

 scientilic observer, ever possessed before. lie is thus en- 

 al)led to point out the analogies or differences between 

 the great mountain ranges of Asia, the European Alps, 



