41 MR. H. J. ELWES ON THE 



Pinus Cemlra, and spruce forests which exceed in their impassa- 

 bilitj anything I have ever seen, even in British Columbia. 



When we reached the north end of Lake Teletskoi, we found the 

 grass and herbaceous vegetation very high and rank, forming a 

 most marked contrast to the dry stunted grasses of tlie Tchuja 

 Steppe and the hills around it. Aconites, delphiniums, thistles, 

 wild hops, and many other plants grew 6 or S feet high ; but 

 though many species of moths were seen, butterflies were much 

 less numerous and interesting, most of them being common 

 European species. 



-As there is no track passable for horses along the western shores 

 of Lake Teletskoi, we had to traverse it in a boat, and it took two 

 days of hard rowing. The western shore of this lake is so steep 

 and rocky that in many places you cannot land for several 

 miles, and we had great difficulty in hauling our boat ashore 

 during a sudden storm which sprung up and threatened to 

 swamp us. Along the whole western shore of this great lake 

 there is not a single vestige of man's presence, and the fore.-<t is 

 so dense, rocky, and impassable, that I do not think it would be 

 possible for a man on foot to make more than four or five miles 

 a day in summer, though these forests are no doubt more easily 

 traversed in winter on snow-shoes by fur-hunters. The shores 

 of Lake Teletskoi were formerly a favourite resort of the Elk, 

 Deer, and Bear, but they are now much diminished since firearms 

 have become common. There is something in the climate of this 

 region which, as Helmersen remarks, must be very exceptional, 

 for we were assured by the inhabitants, as he was, that ice rarely 

 remains on the lake for more than a month at a time, whereas 

 the Obb river is frozen up during three or four months every 

 winter. 



The inhabitants of the country round Lake Teletskoi, and 

 probably of the Bija valley, are of an apparently different race 

 to the Altai Tai'tars, and are called Teleutf s ; in physique they 

 appear to be much poorer, and nothing like so healthy and 

 vigorous. They cultivate a little spring rye and oats in the 

 valleys, and are now mostly Christianised to a certain extent by 

 liussian missionaries, whereas the Altai Tartars and Kirghiz 

 are either mussul nans or worshippers of spirits. All these 

 natives are very much addicted to drink, and the chief, or Saisan, 

 through whom we procured horses and men for our different 



