﻿464 Prof. Milne — Across Europe and Asia. 



times, no deposit had been formed. On the evening of the 5th, it 

 was warm enough to go outside without an overcoat ; but next 

 morning, as we sighted Tomsk, it was bitterly cold, and our decks 

 were thickly covered with ice. The time at which the Tom generally 

 becomes frozen is about the 22nd of October, and it then remains 

 closed until about the 20th of April. 



Before proceeding with a description of the country which I saw 

 beyond Tomsk, I will give my impressions of the vast plain through 

 which, since leaving Tumen, I had been traversing. One great 

 feature was the absence of variety, in consequence of which my 

 daily observations became almost a series of identities, — everywhere 

 there was one great plain composed of either sand or loam forming- 

 more or less of an open Steppe. 



The origin of these Steppes, according to Mr. Thomas Belt and 

 Siberian geologists, was due to the blocking up of the mouths of 

 the great Siberian rivers by an overflow of polar ice from the north, 

 and a consequent flooding of the country by an overflow of the 

 rivers in the south. Mr. Belt chiefly bases this view on observations 

 made by him when on a journey from Ekaterinburg to Byanovl, 

 360 miles S.E. from Omsk. 



One observation which was apparently very quickly made was, 

 " that the plains had no relation to the present river-system ; the 

 rivers simply cut through them ; and there are no defined river- 

 basins bounded by rocks of greater age on which they might have 

 been deposited." 



This simple but gi-and method of dealing with the river-systems 

 of Northern Asia and their boundaries, which are but little better 

 explored than the sources of the Nile, is not, I think, in all senses 

 justifiable ; for if we take any Physical Map of Asia, we shall see 

 that the river-systems form a remarkable example of the connexion 

 of rivers and plains, which can be only paralleled on the Amazons. 

 Wherever there is a river, and especially a large one, a broad 

 plain accompanies it for the greater portion of its course. As it 

 expands in flowing north, the plain also expands. The widening of 

 these plains continues imtil they touch each other, when they unite 

 to form that open flat expanse which fringes the Arctic Ocean. 



That every river has a tongue of flat ground through which it 

 runs is a fact which points to the intimate connexion of the two 

 (plain and river). Such a fact as this assists in making Mr. Belt's 

 argument more comprehensible ; for, instead of being led to regard 

 the whole of Northern Siberia as having been one huge freshwater 

 lake, the area of which would be unparalleled, it might now be 

 regarded as several areas, each occupying more or less its own 

 particular basin. 



The most important point about these jDlains is the immense 

 expanse of sand and loam which they everywhere exhibit. The 

 absence of marine shells and the presence of freshwater shells like 

 Cyrena fluminalis over a great portion of the area furnish strong 

 evidence, which Mr. Belt brought forward in support of his argu- 

 ment, that these strata were deposited in fresh rather than in salt 



