190 SIBERIA 



the maral, the marmot, the ibex, the bear, and the 

 red Alpine wolf. When the summer came the moun- 

 tain slopes would be alive with the song of countless 

 myriads of birds and the hum of numerous insects, 

 unmolested by civilisation aind unhimted by man . 



I found myself wondering whether, when the great 

 Mogul race was predominant in Asia, some stray 

 adventurer had ever visited these mountains, or 

 whether they too had dreaded them as the Kalmuck 

 and the moujik dread them to-day. It is certain that 

 this particular cluster of mountains is altogether off 

 the line of the caravan route from Omsk to China, 

 or the Mongolian sheep-hunter's route via Onguadi ; 

 and this fact, coupled with the comparative isola- 

 tion of Siberia from the iWest of Europe, would 

 account for my having had the great honour of lead- 

 ing the way to the exploration, a lead which I hope 

 will soon be followed, of a land far excelling Switzer- 

 land in its wild Alpine beauty. I am confident, from 

 what I saw, that the range contains mountains of 

 even greater altitudes and magnificence than those 

 I have described. 



A host of thoughts crowded through my mind as 

 I stood amid those rugged giants of the Altai. The 

 word Altai means gold, and golden mountains they 

 appeared to be as they reared their mighty crests in 

 the rays of the slowly-descending sun ; and later, 

 when the afterglow rested upon them, the scene was 

 such as no Alpine sunset can reproduce or emulate, 

 beautiful though the peaks, like the Matterhorn, are 

 under like conditions. Not a bird sounded its call, 

 no rippling stream was to be heard, no avalanche 

 raised the echoes with the thunder of its fall, no Alpine 

 cow-bell sounded in the distance ; a silence that could 

 be felt rested on all around me. Yet, in the silence, 

 the stately mountains seemed to welcome me and to 

 invite a closer acquaintance. The frozen river lay 



