30 Trof. Milne — Across Europe and Asia. 



extended a wide lake, which joined the Baikal. After much reckless 

 driving across wide trackless plains, through gaps in ridges, snow 

 drifts and clumps of trees, with a wild and drunken coachman, at 

 half-past eight I found myself at the post station of Cabansk. 

 After a windy and bitterly cold night, I was next morning at the 

 station of Palavinsaya, the country round which is hilly and pretty. 

 The next station was situated in a plain between sloping hills and 

 isolated peaks. These hills being without wood, the country had an 

 open appearance. As I went on, the snow, which I had been told in 

 Irkutsk would be continuous as far as Kiachta, grew less and less, 

 and at the station where I next changed horses, I had to abandon the 

 sledge I had purchased and hire a carriage. Although the roads 

 were now tolerably free from snow, the surrounding hills were still 

 white with it. The next morning I passed the station of Povorot- 

 naya. The soil now became sandy, and the only trees were pines. 

 The way in which these were dotted about in clumps gave a park- 

 like aspect to the district. In passing through a gap on the ridge of 

 some hills which had been before me since leaving this last station, 

 I came upon one of the most extensive views I had seen upon my 

 journey. The country then before me was smooth and undulating 

 in outline. Here and there small conical hills like old volcanos, 

 the tops of which were sometimes capped with trees, stood up like 

 islands above the plains of snow from which they rose. In and out 

 between these I could see the track I had to take, trending away in 

 the distance until it almost disappeared as a mere black line. From 

 the little I saw of this country as I went rapidly rolling through it, 

 it appeared to be a region of old volcanos, which would admirably 

 bear comparison with Scrope's drawings of the Auvergne. Every- 

 where upon the road were black fragments of volcanic rocks, which 

 were often vesicular and sometimes scoriaceous. To the right and 

 to the left were small cones throwing shadows on the snow as even 

 and distinct in their conical outline as the volcanos themselves. After 

 crossing a small ridge beyond the station of Kalenishnaya, up a 

 valley upon my left there was a large cone with a broken crater, 

 down the sides of which the outline of an ancient stream of lava 

 could be distinctly traced. At one or two places along the valley 

 in which I travelled there were some large fissures extending down 

 from the mountains. These were generally ten to twelve feet in 

 depth, and from twenty to forty feet in width. In some places they 

 intersected the road and had to be crossed by a bridge. These 

 openings showed sections of a greyish sandy soil, which may be 

 regarded as an alluvial covering to the volcanic rocks beneath. 



The volcanic rocks of the Tunka district, to which I have before 

 several times referred, hold a somewhat similar position to the alluvial 

 beds which cap them. 



The serrated outlines of the mountains which bound this last- 

 mentioned district, I saw on my way down the Baikal, and I also 

 mentioned them as being visible from Irkutsk. A general idea of 

 the situation of these rocks may be gathered from the annexed 

 section, which I have drawn from a description given to me by M. 

 Tchersky, who had paid a visit to the Tunka valley. 



