406 FROM NORTH POLE TO EQUATOR. 



proper. For three long days we journeyed along the lake, hindered 

 by bad roads and bad weather, and delayed by a Chinese embassy 

 sent to the Governor; then we rode through dense forests and over 

 scarce surmountable passes, and down by breakneck paths towards 

 the Russian frontier, and into the fertile valley of the Buchtarma. 

 There in the newly-established Cossack settlement the Altaiskaya- 

 Stanitza, we were again able to enjoy Russian hospitality and to 

 rest in comfort. 



The officers of the Stanitza were kind enough to present us with 

 samples of the produce of the district, and we continued our journey 

 on the 12th of June. The sun shone cheerfully down from a cloud- 

 less sky on the splendid landscape, now for the first time unveiled. 

 Immense park-like valleys, surrounded by steeply towering, snow- 

 capped mountains, suffused with bewitching colours, beautiful trees 

 on the meadows, blossoming bushes on the slopes, and an infinite 

 wealth of flowers, beautiful beyond description, and as it were 

 exultant in the sunlight long denied to them, newly unfolded wild 

 roses, the call of the cuckoo and songs from a hundred throats, 

 the auls of the Kirghiz in the broader valleys, and the Russian 

 villages surrounded by green shrubs, grazing herds, fruitful fields, 

 rushing brooks, and jagged rocks, mild air and the balmy fragrance 

 breathing of spring — such were some of the elements which 

 intoxicated the senses and made our journey a continual delight. 

 Soon we crossed the boundaries of the crown-lands of the Altai, 

 a property not much smaller than France! At the end of a 

 day's journey we reached the little town of Serianoffsk with its 

 silver mines. After we had been hospitably entertained and had 

 inspected all the works, we turned again to the Irtish, and were 

 borne by the rapid stream through deep and picturesque gorges 

 past Buchtarminsk to Ustkamenogorsk, whence we journeyed in 

 wagons once more through these crown-lands which give promise 

 of a rich future. Steppe-like plains adjoin the pleasant tracts 

 which lie along the spurs of the mountains; extensive forests 

 alternate with cultivated land. Large prosperous villages; valu- 

 able, fertile fields of coal-black soil; well-built men with a 

 look of conscious prosperity, beautiful women in picturesque 



