are completely barren, rise abruptly from the river, the steppe scenery still predomina- 

 ting till at some distance below Kemchik, where the taiga again begins to appear. In 

 the usual way the larch is the pioneer tree, gradually followed by the pine, cedar, and 

 spruce, till, at some distance above the river Uss, the genuine black taiga becomes predo- 

 minant. The breadth of the Sayansk mountains is here about 400 or 500 wersts, over 

 which distance the altitude of the river decreases from 570 to 300 m. From Kemchik- 

 bom, forming the boundary between Mongolia and Siberia, the river flows under the 

 name of the Yenisei through the taiga in a rather narrow valley, with many rapids. This 

 mountain ridge, which the river bursts through here, is accompanied by the common 

 Sayansk taiga vegetation. 



Below Mainski porog, the mountains become lower; the river widens to many times 

 its former breadth, assuming the imposing appearance which it keeps northwards 

 throughout the lowland. The transition between the taiga and the steppe is also here 

 very sudden. About Mainski porog, the forest rather suddenly disappears, and the tra- 

 veller presently sails out of the mountains into open, level plains, affording a wide 

 view in all directions. The air is also felt to become milder. Small villages surrounded 

 by cultivated fields are met with at shorter intervals; the traveller is back again on the 

 historic steppes about Minusinsk. 



101 



