28 MB. H. J. ELWES OX THE 



the Bija, which flows out of Lake Teletskoi, and the Katuna, 

 which rises on the Chinese f roatier in the great mountain called 

 13ielucha, which is over 10,000 feet high. 



Ongodai is about 180 miles from Biisk, and is the last place on 

 the trade route to Kobdo in Mongolia where Russians are settled. 

 It lies in the valley of the Ursul river — a broad valley of steppe- 

 like character, whose waters flow into the Katuna, one of the 

 two great sources of the Obb river. The character of the 

 country thus far is much like that of Colorado. The slopes 

 exposed to the south are arid, and covered with dwarf plants and 

 dry grass, while the slopes facing north are wooded, in some 

 places very thickly, with larch, while spruce grows in the flat, 

 marshy bottoms of the valleys. 



We entered the country of the Altai Tartars shortly before 

 reaching Ongodai. They are mostly nomads, and from their 

 appearance are probably nearly akin to (if not identical with) 

 the tribes from whom the Ottoman Turks originally sprung. 

 Though Tchihatcheff, who spoke Turkish, says he could not 

 understand their language or make himself understood, yet I 

 recognized the few Turkish words I know for common objects, 

 and the appearance of some of the men is exactly like that 

 of the Turks of Asia Minor. They have enormous herds of 

 horses, one chief owning as many as six or eight thousand, and 

 live in summer in movable ' yourts ' or tents, covered with felt on 

 wicker irames, like those of the Kirghiz, whilst in winter they 

 live in pyramidal huts covered with larch bark, which resemble 

 in form the lodges of the North- American Indians. 



From Ongodai we had to carry all our baggage on horseback, 

 for beyond this the road is impassable, even for country carts, 

 and there was considerable delay in getting horses sufficient for 

 our outfit, for the sprii'g had been very severe, and most of the 

 working horses had already left with merchandise for Kobdo. 

 A day's journey beyond Ongodai, we crossed the valley of the 

 Katuna in a deep rocky gorge, about 3000 feet above the sea, by 

 a ferry of log canoes, whilst the horses were all made to swim 

 over. After crossing the Katuna we passed over a mountain, 

 about 5000 feet high, and descended again into the Katuna valley, 

 close to its junction with the Tchuja river, which we followed for 

 six days nearly to its source in a great open valley lying about 

 6000 feet above the sea, and known as the Upper Tchuja Steppe. 

 In this Steppe was a sort of frontier market-place, called Kuch 



