1865.] Notes on Central Asia. 123 



of Chinese and other Asiatic travellers, commencing from the Buddhist 

 Missionaries Fa-Hyan and Huyan-Tsan of the 4th and 7th centuries, 

 to the brief itineraries of the Semipalatinsk Tartar traders of the 

 present century. Numerous questions, replete with interest to the 

 science of geography, could only be possibly solved by actual invests 

 gation on the spot. The configuration of the country, the direction 

 of the upheaval of the mountain chain, its mean height, the altitude 

 of its mountain passes, the height of the snow-line, the distribution 

 of animal and vegetable organisms, the existence of Alpine glaciers or 

 of volcanic action, — points all requiring either investigation, or 

 confirmation. So far back as 1851 and 1852, during my stay at Berlin, 

 I acquainted Humboldt and Bitter of my intention of proceeding into 

 the interior of Asia as far as the Tian-Shan range. They both 

 encouraged me in my difficult enterprise, but did not conceal their 

 doubts as to the possibility of penetrating so far into the interior of 

 the Asiatic Continent. The result of my deliberations with these 

 leaders of science, strengthened me in my determination of attempting 

 to reach the eternal snow-line of the Tian-Shan at all hazards. Hum- 

 boldt attached so much importance to the investigation, even a cursory 

 one, of this range, that I could not look at the undertaking but in the 

 light of a holy mission, marked out for me by the Nestor of European 

 savans. 



By the end of the summer of 1856 under the auspices, and with 

 the co-operation of the Bussian Geographical Society, I was already in 

 Vernoe. Unfortunately, however, I arrived two months after the visit 

 of a Bussian detachment to lake Issyk-Kul. 



With a small escort of twelve cossacks, I succeeded, on the -gr 9 r 

 September, in reaching the eastern extremity of the lake, and had an 

 opportunity of surveying from point Kuke-Kul-usun, the imposing, 

 range of the Tian-Shan, from the Djirgalau to the opposite extremity 

 of the lake. To visit the chain itself was that moment impossible. 

 My escort being so small, I was obliged to proceed very carefully, and 

 passed the night among inaccessible defiles, anticipating every moment 

 to be attacked by hostile bands of Kara-Kirghizes. 



Beturning to Vernoe, and procuring a larger escort (40 cossacks) I 

 proceeded through the wild Buam defile, at the upper course of the 

 Chu, and emerged on the base of the Celestial range, near the Western 



