﻿460 Prof. Milne — Across Europe and Asia. 



Along the roads there were numbers of birds like magpies, water- 

 wagtails, and woodpeckers, but these were perhaps not so desirable 

 as the sparrows. After 36 hours of continuous travelling, I reached 

 Tumen, the distance being 306^ versts. 



At Tumen there are some engineering works, which belong to Mr. 

 Wardroper, an English resident, who has made many of the steamers 

 of light draught which are now so numerous on some of the Siberian 

 rivers. The evening after my arrival I joined a small steamer 

 which was to take us down the shallower portions of the Kiver 

 Toufa to a larger steamer lying further down. Upon, the right hand, 

 or southern side of the river, there is a bank from 50 to 80 feet in 

 height, which is chiefly composed of white sand. The opposite 

 shore is however low. As we descended the river, these appearances 

 were reversed, and the high bank was upon the left-hand side. The 

 Toufa is a shallow sandy river, with a very winding course. Lines 

 of willows, which clothed the furrowed banks on either side, shut 

 out our view of the surrounding country. 



Our progress was both slow and difficult, but this was partly 

 owing to our steamer having to tow behind it a large and unwieldy 

 barge, in which there were nearly 1000 convicts. Now and then 

 we obtained a glimpse through the barrier of willow on either side, 

 and saw a background of tall black firs and the flickering leaves of 

 clumps of aspen. On this river, although we were many hundreds, 

 and I might almost say thousands of miles from the sea, there are 

 many sea-gulls {Larus canus ?) to be seen. The backs of these were 

 grey and the ends of their wings black. 



Early on the morning of the 26th September we left the Toufa 

 river and joined the Tobol. The water was still of the same dirty 

 sandy hue, and about 120 yards in breadth. Our course was still 

 very winding, and we repeatedly described curves like the letter S. 

 It is said that sturgeon and sterlet are seldom seen in the rivers 

 where we were, although common a little farther east. The ex- 

 planation of this was that the rivers were too shallow. During 

 the first day all that I saw which was indicative of habitations 

 wei-e two green domes capping the tower-like sj)ires of a church. 

 Now and then we passed a few ragged Tartars who had pushed 

 their way through the tall fringe of willow to see the passing 

 steamer. Their skins were very dark, and their eyes were small 

 and sharp. From some small " dugout " boats and nets, which were 

 generally to be seen near them, I think their occupation was that of 

 fishermen. The banks of the river often showed a horizontal strati- 

 fication. Intercalated with the sandy beds which formed these 

 banks, I sometimes saw a bed of peaty matter, in some cases prob- 

 ably marking an old land-surface which had been buried by the 

 deposits from a river or a lake. 



About 3 P.M. we reached Evelewa, where we joined a large steamer. 

 This was of course a sign that we had reached somewhat deeper 

 water. 



Next morning we sighted Tobolsk. The town is pleasantly 

 situated partly on the top and partly beneath the face of a tall ridge 



