ZOOLOGY AND BOTANT OF THE ALTAI MOUIs'TAIKS. 41 



night it froze, and on the 17th of July snow fell to the depth of 

 8 or 10 inches at this elevation, and though the hot sun and diy 

 atmosphere very rapidly melted it, w^e were assured by the in- 

 habitants that the summer was too short to make it worth their 

 while to graze sheep there, and that as early as the middle of 

 August snow might be expected to fall and lie in the higher 

 mountains. TcbikatchefF, in his journey from the Tcliuja Steppe 

 to the Abakan, the principal norlhern tributary of the Yenesei, 

 also met with heavy snowstorms in June and July. 



When we left England we had the intention of passing through 

 North-western Mongolia and returning either by the upper valley 

 of the Tenesei river, which is almost entirely unexplored, or, if 

 we found that impossible, of going eastwards by the shores of 

 the great Lake Kossogol to Irkutsk. But as we found no people 

 who could act as guides in either of these directions, we were 

 obliged to give up anything like real exploration. There is, how- 

 ever, no difficulty in travelling from Kuch Agatcli through Mon- 

 golia, via Kobdo, TJliassutai, and Lake Kossogol to Irkutsk. 

 Mr. E.ew informed me that the Wild Horse (Equus PrejvalsMi) 

 was to be found in the desert between Kobdo and Uliassutai, 

 and I was in great hopes of procuring a specimen of this animul 

 which, so far as I know, has not been seen by any Englishman. 

 M. Grum-Grrishimailo, the celebrated Russian traveller, who has 

 spent eight years in exploring Central Asia, and who is the only 

 Euroj)ean who has actually seen the Wild Horse in its own 

 country, assured me that the animals spoken of by Mr. Rew 

 must be the Wild Ass, as the nearest point to the Altai at which 

 be found the Wild Horse was about 15 days' hard travelling 

 south from Kobdo, near Gruchen, and as that country is almost 

 inaccessible in summer on account of the want of water, time 

 would not allow us to visit it. 



Though the geographical results of this journey are therefore 

 unimportant, the extra time given to collecting in the Altai 

 was of the greatest possible advantage, and though a great deal 

 may be done whilst travelling on horseback, if you stop every 

 time you see a new or apparently new species, yet fast travelling 

 is incompatible with collecting. 



Our return journey from the Mongolian frontier took us 

 through a very different and most interesting part of the Altai. 

 Leaving the Tchuja valley by the Kurai pass, we crossed the 

 mountains to the north of it into a valley through which flows a 



