138 FORESTS OF SIBERIA AND TURKESTAN 



occupies vast tracts chiefly on the right bank of the 

 Irtish river, and also on the Ob river. Generally 

 speaking in the Government of Tobolsk the upper 

 parts of the hills are occupied with pine, the pine being 

 mixed on the lower slopes with spruce, larch, cembran 

 pine, and sometimes birch, spruce and cembran pine 

 predominating on the lowest levels. The larch is 

 seldom found pure in this Government, as the pine 

 takes possession of all the drier areas. 



Eastern Siberia. — East of the lower reaches of the 

 Enessey and Lake Baikal : A considerable change 

 takes place in the character of the taiga in this region. 

 The Siberian larch is replaced by the daur larch {Larix 

 daurica). The daur birch also appears, with the 

 fragrant poplar, and in the south in addition to such 

 Western Siberian forms as alder, bird-cherry and 

 mountain ash, the tamarisk and the rhododendron 

 appear ; further east the Mongol oak, wild apple, and 

 the walnut commence to coine in. 



Eastward to the Amur and Sea Coast Districts and 

 southward to the Manchurian forests : The further 

 east and .south we proceed the greater becomes the 

 change in the character of the forests. The daur larch 

 is still present, but the Siberian fir (spruce) is replaced 

 by the Ayansk fir (Picea ajanensis), which is very 

 wide-spread, forming thick forests in places; the 

 ordinary birch is replaced by the Betula Ermani. 

 The Manchurian pine (Pinus mandshurica) of great 

 height-growth and fine quality timber appears. Pinus 

 funebris occurs along the river Ussuri. Two silver firs 

 are found, Abies nephrolepsis, growing in both the 

 Amur and the Sea-coast districts; and the Abies 



